


It's Not Christmas, If It's Not With You

by xSophie2x



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Ambitious Theo Raeken, But they pull it off, Christmas, Christmas Fluff, Enemies to Lovers, Happy Ending, Honest Liam Dunbar, Honest Theo Raeken, Implied/Referenced Character Death, M/M, Mistletoe, Succesful Christmas party, With a few bumps along the road, office Christmas party
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-27
Updated: 2020-12-27
Packaged: 2021-03-11 02:14:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 26,507
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28077552
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xSophie2x/pseuds/xSophie2x
Summary: Working together can be quite a chore if you don't get along with your coworker. But changes can happen unexpectedly and at any given time, and teaming up for a task may just be the start of that.Liam and Theo don't like each other, that much is a fact. So that's why, they're both more than a little bit peeved at having to organize the office Christmas party together. But working closer together, it's unavoidable they get to know each other and learn that the other might be different from what they thought after all. Christmas is a time for happiness, and as the organizing gets done, they might just achieve that as well.
Relationships: Liam Dunbar/Theo Raeken
Comments: 12
Kudos: 30
Collections: Thiam Holiday Gift Exchange 2020





	It's Not Christmas, If It's Not With You

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Jmeelee](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jmeelee/gifts).



> From your Secret Santa in 2020! For your prompt: 1) Enemies to lovers (I’d love to see this explored in moodboard form or even a playlist, also here for any Fic featuring this troupe). Unfortunately I don't have a playlist but I listened to Christmas Without You by Ava Max a lot while writing this so you an try that ;) This is not a one shot, it's a little longer, but that's kinda how it goes with me. 
> 
> It's after Christmas but I still hope you had a nice one, and happy new year! 
> 
> Thanks Janna for helping me with this, as always! 
> 
> And I hope you enjoy this :)

‘…Now, as I’m sure, I don’t have to go over that explanation again, as you will all have understood it, so…’ Mrs. Martin’s voice sounded loudly through the quiet meeting room, no one talking or interrupting her, they had learned not to a long time ago, though her voice trailed off, away from Liam’s attention that faded into thin air, and his thoughts wandered off elsewhere.

Instead of listening to her next item on the agenda, he sat, frozen, in his seat, feeling cold like he was drenched in ice water, like the air was knocked out of his lungs and his stomach dropped painfully. Shocked, with his eyes narrowed, he glanced over at Theo where the man sat across the table from him, trying to make sense of Mrs. Martin’s words, to find the other man already staring back at him. Hostile, was the only Liam could describe it, if the flames shooting from Theo’s eyes was anything to go by, and he must’ve come to the same conclusion as him.

_‘The ones in charge for the annual office Christmas party this year are Liam and Theo. I expect you to do your very best and give this company a party that we can all enjoy,’_ Mrs. Martin had said.

Liam didn’t know what he was hearing. He wanted to scoff, and the feeling was only made stronger by the way Theo was glaring at him. A nice Christmas party? the thought crossed his mind. That everyone could enjoy? _With him of all people,_ they both seemed to be thinking. _Yeah right._ The two of them didn’t get along, and that was an understatement, and Liam knew that that was probably the only thing that they had ever agreed on.

Liam had a strong feeling that this would be the most divided, and worst organized Christmas party that their advertising company had ever seen, and judging by the looks on his colleagues’ faces, they feared the same thing. Liam didn’t know why Mrs. Martin had decided to pair him and Theo up for an important job, it remained a mystery, but he held his breath for the upcoming annual holiday party.

*********

_THREE YEARS AGO_

_Shit. He was gonna be late for work._

_Liam shot up, wide awake, fumbling with his phone on his nightstand where the alarm he had set was still blaring around his room to try and turn it off, and groaned as his phone fell on the floor instead._

_Not again. It had been going the same way for three days, and if he dropped his phone on the floor one more time, he would be surprised if it didn’t finally break yet._

_Scrambling, hurriedly, he threw his bed covers aside and jumped out of bed, standing still in a moment of panic for only a second, before running to his closet and pulling out the first office appropriate sweater he saw. He may arrive a few minutes late, but he could still make a good impression in all of the other aspects._

_Breakfast was a hurried mix of throwing a muffin into his mouth way too fast and swallowing the dry crumbs as he tried not to slip into a coughing fit, hoisting up his pants and closing his belt, and grabbing a quick cup of coffee to take with him in the car as he ran for the door on his way out._

_‘Come on, come on, come on… Fuck!’ he cursed, because of course the way out of his apartment building’s parking lot was clogged with a long line of cars, right at this moment, and he narrowly avoided giving into the urge to press his honk as he glanced over his shoulder at the backseat._

_His backpack, with his laptop with the PowerPoint and the extra visual boards he had made for the presentation he was required to give, still sat in the seat behind him._

_Liam turned again, looking before him, clenching his hands around the steering wheel so tight it turned his knuckles white and made the leather squeak underneath his fingers, but a wave of relief washed over him as he saw the line had moved much further now. A resolute breath spilled past his lips and he pushed his foot down on the gas, slowly, following after the other cars at a walking pace and turning the corner of the parking lot. Only then, did he pick up speed and push down on the gas pedal._

_Liam was pretty sure he went over the speed limit a few times as he was on his way to the office, but damnit, he was on a tight schedule! And luckily, if there were any police officers nearby who spotted him, they saw that too._

_Having arrived at work, Liam could barely find a parking space fast enough for his liking, watching the time tick away on his phone he saw in frustration, and of course, at this point in the day, most parking spots were taken._

_Through the windows he could see passing by his car, walking back and forth hurriedly for a job about God knows what. “Serves you right, teaches you not to be late next time”, they all seemed to be saying, taunting him. Liam groaned, glaring at them from behind the window, tightening his grip on the steering wheel and pressing his foot down on the gas. With that, he circled the parking lot until, and a breath of relief spilled past his lips, a heavy load that Mrs. Martin wouldn’t snap at him and he wouldn’t be fired dropping off of him, he’d found a parking spot. Swearing to himself right then, that he would never, ever be late for work again._

_Panting, Liam ran through the hallways, his backpack slapping onto his back with every step he took, his visual presentation boards held clumsily in his hands. The constant mumbled rambling of ‘Sorry, sorry, sorry,’ spilling past his lips as he pushed through the people walking from the other direction and standing in his way, some of them jumping out of his way with shock and swearing after him, telling him to watch it. Liam didn’t look back as their harsh words reached his ears, barely even noticed it, their voices fading again already. He didn’t have time to pay them attention. He was late, and he had a presentation to get to._

_Gasping, with breaths spilling fast and shallow from his lips (he had got to start going to the gym more often), and the presentation’s meeting room coming in sight, Liam slowed his pace, coming to a stop outside the room. Trying to catch his breath, he stretched out his arm enough to check the time on his watch, a deep sigh of relief bubbling up and spilling past his lips as he saw that he was exactly on time, the hands of the little clock hitting 9.15 exact._

_The smile that grew on his face at the realization was big, hurting his cheeks just a little, and Liam threw his head back and laughed to himself in the abandoned hallway for just a moment, before making move to open the door to the meeting room and looking inside through the big window next to the door._

_What he saw, however, was enough to make his blood boil, to make the smile wipe off his face, his hands clench into fists by his sides and his jaw quiver. He didn’t notice, down by his sides, where his grip on his extra visual boards had tightened and he slowly crumpled them at the top._

_Theo Raeken was standing in the front of the room, next to the screen usually reserved for whoever was leading the meeting, and he was talking animatedly, gesturing around wildly, and from what Liam could see, his coworkers were listening captivatedly, hanging onto his every word._

_It made his blood boil, made him want to crash the door open and burst in there, and throw something at Theo._

_Because who did he think he was, stealing Liam’s presentation when he was perfectly on time, and ready to start setting up his presentation!? It definitely didn’t help anything to calm Liam’s nerves after thinking he was late, and the nervousness for his presentation that he already felt after working so hard for it, to find out that Theo had simply taken it from him! His hands trembling with anger and nervousness alike, and his teeth clenched together tightly._

_This was enough, he decided. For a year he’d watched Theo hoarding all the work that was there to do at the office, not just from him but from other colleagues too, taking all the projects from the biggest clients and claiming that he could jiggle it all, even when he was the first to arrive at the office and the last one to leave, and often looked wrecked with tiredness from doing it all. He simply refused to give tasks to other people. But now Liam’d had enough. He wasn’t going to let Theo get away with it anymore._

_With big steps and a straight back, his face like thunder and as much of a murder strut as he could muster, Liam made his way through the office to Theo’s desk, this time people jumping out of his way again yet for a completely different reason._

_With a bang, he slammed his hand down on Theo’s desk, startling the other man only for a moment before he looked up and saw who it was, towering over him._

_‘What the hell were you thinking!?’_

_Theo narrowed his eyes, looking up with a hint of amusement in them that did nothing but fuel Liam’s anger. ‘Given the way we do things around here, you’re gonna have to be more specific.’_

_And Liam glowered, Theo’s smugness driving him, he knew Theo actually had a very good_ _idea of what he was referring to. The man wanted him to be more specific? Then fine. More specific he would be._

_‘You knew how much that presentation meant to me!’ he hissed, leaning forward. ‘You knew how much that meant to me and how much work I’ve put into it, you saw me at my desk for days! And I wasn’t late! I was perfectly on time!’_

_He didn’t notice their coworkers walking by and stopping to listen to them, slowly gathering around in small groups to watch them and whisper before moving on with their work._

_‘I just wanted to help you out! I thought you’d be happy! And you were late, so I thought I’d already start for you!’_

_Theo glowered, his eyes ablaze with flames dancing in them, and Liam leaned back, letting out a laugh that he was sure Mason would describe back to him as “hysterical” later._

_‘Yeah, right,’ he hiccupped, his anger rising. ‘You just wanted a chance to be in the spotlight and save the day, just like you always do!’_

_With that he turned, his chest rising and falling quickly, his anger still thrumming through his veins and spilling over, before Theo could talk back and decide he wanted the last word in._

_‘You’re welcome!’ Theo called after him, his voice dripping with ice, and Liam had to do everything in his power to not look back and react, to keep walking away._

_With that, he disappeared back behind his desk, hiding behind it falling down in his seat, as the embarrassment for making such a scene for everyone to see in the office, finally settled in on top of the hot, still thrumming anger rushing through him._

_Why did things like this always have to happen to him?_

*********

The numb haze of disbelief, of having to organize the holiday party with the one coworker he hadn’t been able to get along with for so long, didn’t leave Liam until she declared their meeting over. As soon as it was, the group of colleagues pushed their chairs back hastily, the legs scraping over the floor startling Liam awake, and as they stood up, making their way towards the door, Liam was turned back into reality and a faint voice in the back of his mind reminded him that he should probably do the same. A heavily dreaded feeling settled in his stomach, making it drop painfully.

He sighed, getting up, and Liam hung back in the room, gathering his things slowly and putting them in his backpack, nodding at Mrs. Martin with a friendly smile once before walking towards the door and stepping into the hallway.

He could so do with a cup of coffee right now, after hearing the dreaded news, like nothing else.

Unfortunately, it seemed that was not quite possible yet.

Instead, as he stepped into the hallway, he was met by Theo’s sour face, where the man leaned against the wall outside of the meeting room, his arms crossed, his face unhappy as he waited for him and spotted Liam walking up to him, and Liam knew he was gonna have to wait a little longer for that cup of coffee.

‘Finally,’ Theo pressed out through gritted teeth, the word sounding bitter to Liam’s ears, as the other man pushed himself off of the wall and came to stand before him. ‘I thought you were never gonna come out of there again. Do you always pack up your things so slowly? Or were you busy sucking up to Mrs. Martin, because if you’re done with that…’

Liam groaned, feeling the spark of anger he was prepared to let go just this once flare up again. ‘I do not do that, you do!’ he hissed, glaring over at Theo as the other man stared back at him unimpressed, with his eyebrows raised, remembering all the times he’d seen Theo do exactly that. And Liam didn’t know if he was imagining things or if he saw something pleasantly surprised flicker over Theo’s face quickly.

He sighed, stepping forward and pushing past Theo, rubbing a hand over his face tiredly. ‘Look,’ he started, swinging his bag over his shoulder, not having it in him to fight him right then. He was busy, and he wanted to get back to work. ‘Just cut to the point.’

‘Fine!’ Theo huffed out, stepping forward catching up with him. ‘I was gonna say, that we’re both obviously not exactly thrilled with this outcome,’ his voice coming out harsh and matter-of-factly. ‘But we are still stuck together for this, and we would need some kind of plan.’ 

At that, Liam stopped dead in his tracks by surprise, disbelieving of what he was hearing, and turned to Theo, his eyebrows raised, considering him. He hadn’t expected Theo to come with such a mature response to them getting paired up to organize the office holiday party. If anything, he hadn’t expected Theo to do anything to try and get him involved, instead of running off and trying to do everything on his own.

‘You?’ he asked, raising his eyebrows, feeling his lips curl up into what he was sure was a bit of a mocking smile. ‘You have a plan?’ He wasn’t really surprised. Most of the time, Theo seemed to have a plan for just about anything. Liam had watched him time and time again, with gritted teeth, how Theo had played the savior of the company, offering up suggestions and solutions that magically no one else had thought of and getting into Mrs. Martin’s good graces. Their boss really had a favorite, and Liam had watched as she gave Theo the biggest projects for the most important clients, allowing the other man to slowly climb the ladder. On top of that, Theo also liked to control and take smaller projects for other people, claiming that he had enough time and that he could do it all.

Liam feared for the promotion both he and Theo qualified for, watching his own chances for it circling down the drain as the other rose up higher.

‘Well, maybe!’ Theo scrambled to catch up with Liam again, as he had sighed and continued on his way to the coffee machine, through the hallway of their modernly designed office with neutral colors and big glass windows reaching from floor to ceiling. ‘I mean, as you might already know, I organized the holiday party back in 2016 with Lydia, so you know, I have some experience.’

That, had Liam hold in his tracks. He turned to Theo, slowly, feeling his lips pull up in a snarl. He should’ve known that he was cheering too soon, that he was getting ahead of himself, and that of course Theo would find some way to spin it so that he could take charge with the organizing.

‘Like what?’ he snapped.

Theo grinned at that, his lips curling up into a smirk that seemed to smug about what he was gonna say next and Liam hated, something hot and angry buzzing low in his stomach. ‘I just meant, we should think about a plan, things to take into account when organizing a party, decorations and all that.’ Theo sounded almost bored, like he was explaining how to organize to a kid, and it made Liam clench his fists by his sides.

‘I’m assuming you’re gonna tell me what to do?’

‘Yes,’ Theo nodded easily, almost too quickly for Liam’s liking, the other man not realizing that he was silently admitting he thought he was better at the job than Liam. ‘Why don’t we make a list, of things we shouldn’t forget, and things we would like to see at the party?’

The idea for both of them to make a list separately, was silently implied. Liam thought that kinda defeated the purpose of having to organize together, but opposed to working together with Theo he was indeed, and he didn’t feel like going against him and arguing with him on this.

He nodded, and Theo seemed satisfied with that.

‘Show me what you got when it’s done,’ he said, it sounded like an order, Liam clenched his fists by his sides at the tone, his shoulders tensing up and his jaw quivering, and with that Theo turned on his heels and walked away.

A deep breath spilled past Liam’s lips, all the angry tension he held in his body flowing away as he watched Theo leaving, and resolutely, he turned, holding his head up high.

He thought, he had definitely earned that cup of coffee after that. 

*********

Liam spent two lunch breaks on the list. He took up his free time, as much as he could afford, and wrote down everything he could think of. Money they could use, decorations, music, food. Everything was divided into neat little columns with every option he liked written down in each category. In the end, the list looked clear and well-organized in a way that had a happy grin showing on Liam’s face, satisfaction settling in his chest, as he dropped his pen on his desk smugly and leaned back against his seat cheerfully.

_Take that, Theo Raeken,_ he thought. For once, he had made something that the other man could have no unconstructive criticism about, and could actually even learn something from him. The thrill and hope of countering Theo’s negativity lasted long enough, for Liam to lean back with his arms folded behind his back for a moment and chuckle whole-heartedly, chewing on his gum, before leaning back forward and going back to work.

*********

‘I made the list.’

Liam slapped the notebook paper down on Theo’s desk, hard enough to startle the other man and have him glaring at him before sitting down on the edge of the desk, and Theo glanced it up and down once before staring up at him incredulously.

‘For what? A kids birthday party? You clearly haven’t ever thrown a professional Christmas party before, Liam.’

Liam sucked in a breath, biting back a snappy remark and brushing off the irritated feeling that washed over him after Theo’s derogatory comment, annoyance and frustration rising inside him at how Theo liked to play Sherlock Holmes with his little magnifying glass and look for everything that was wrong. He couldn’t help but be surprised though, his head snapping over at him, at hearing his name coming from the other’s lips. It was certainly an interesting upgrade from how the man had degradingly called him _Dunbar_ for years, though looking at Theo, it became clear to Liam that he hadn’t even known he’d done it. Had been too busy and distracted studying the list. And an empty feeling settled inside Liam, falling against the back of his seat and squeezing his hands around the edge of the seat until his knuckles turned white.

‘Yeah? Well what have you done then?’ The words came out snapping, somehow he didn’t think Theo had taken this task lightly. Knowing Theo, the man had really outdone both himself and Liam again, put in way more work than anybody else did or was even necessary with something like this, and Liam had never started to get as fed up with it as he was now. 

At his question, Theo smirked, huffing out a short smug laugh that pricked all over Liam’s skin, in the most unpleasant way with how pleased Theo seemed to be allowed to show him, and he shivered.

‘Of course you were gonna ask that,’ he replied, and Liam had to restrain himself from rolling his eyes. Instead, he slid from the desk, pulling a lost abandoned desk chair closer to him and sitting down on it. He leaned forward as Theo spun around in his desk chair and started clicking away on his computer hurriedly, watching as the other man opened an Excel spreadsheet. 

Liam narrowed his eyes, squeezing them shut a little tighter at all the colors on the screen, different kinds of information all grouped up together by so many colors and letters dancing in front of his eyes, and dizzying him. 

‘Wow…’ he mumbled, the word spilling past his lips before he could stop it, seeing Theo leaning back in his seat with his arms folded behind his head and smirking smugly at him from the corner of his eye. ‘This is… excessive.’ 

Not that he was surprised with Theo overdoing it again. He always did, and was always happy enough to let other people know that too. 

‘Try clarifying,’ Theo commented, turning to his computer again and putting his fingers on the keyboard, and this time, there was nothing that stopped Liam from rolling his eyes where Theo couldn’t see. Reluctantly, with his arms crossed and leaning back in his seat, he focused his eyes on the screen. 

‘Okay, so,’ Theo started, taking his mouse, starting to guide Liam through it. Liam bit his lip, keeping himself from making a noise and scoffing. Upon closer look, it really wasn’t all that different from what he’d made and once again, Liam reminded himself that Theo just liked to feel great. ‘On the left, I made a list with everything we need to make a party successful, decorations, food, drinks, you name it. I thought we should set a budget, ask Mrs. Martin how much we get that we can spend on office parties, or maybe ask around if everyone wants to give a little extra.’ 

Silently, Liam took in Theo’s words, nodding along with them quietly. He could see where Theo was coming from, the other man had clearly thought it out a little bit deeper than Liam, though he could tell he had been going in the right direction. 

‘Okay, so budget first?’ he asked, looking over at Theo. 

The man nodded, straightening his back, and had just opened his mouth to say something when Liam beat him to it, stopping him holding his hand up. ‘Uhm… Just, maybe we should split the tasks,’ nodding to where Theo had written out the option for a little extra contribution from their coworkers on the screen. ‘I thought I could make a round around the office, and you can check for the budget with Mrs. Martin.’ Somehow, Liam didn’t think the guy who had a reputation and a habit of hoarding the work was gonna get a more enthusiastic response than him when asking for a little contribution from their coworkers, and this course of action seemed only logical to Liam. He kept in the back of his mind that most people around the office shared his opinion about Theo and he himself was generally more well-liked by his coworkers. 

However, Liam didn’t know if he was imagining things or if he saw Theo’s face fall slightly before the man collected himself again, and a snarl curled up his lips, as he nodded. 

‘Fine! We’ll keep in touch for the organizing,’ he growled and Liam didn’t know why he ever thought his words and the office’s general opinion on Theo affected the other man, had already forgotten about it again. 

‘I’m looking forward to working with you,’ he shot back loudly, snapping, sarcasm dripping from his voice like ice. He gripped Theo’s hand, the two of them shaking their hands harshly, to support their words in the most sarcastic way. 

Theo’s hand was surprisingly warm and soft against his, and Liam’s breath hitched in his throat as Theo stared at him, frowning. Quickly, as if he’d been burnt, Liam pulled his hand back, not nearly fast enough for his liking. For a moment, they stood still, frowning, wordlessly, everything still around them, before Liam spun around on his feet. 

‘Let me know what Mrs. Martin said,’ he snapped, his voice coming out harsher than usual before he could stop himself, and he snatched his page of the notebook with the list he’d made from Theo’s desk. With that he turned, hurrying off stomping away, a thundercloud even darker than before hanging over his head for having to work with Theo, one that he was sure was showing on his face as well if the way people didn’t dare to go anywhere near him was anything to go by, and he felt anger flare in his stomach. 

Lost in his thoughts, grumbling at Theo to himself where no one could hear, he made his way back to his desk and fell down on his desk chair with a hopeless sigh, looking over at the desk next to him. 

‘I don’t know how I’m gonna survive this.’ 

‘Well, I think you’re just being dramatic, as always,’ Mason’s voice came as his best friend rolled his chair back and stared at Liam sternly past the screen that separated their desks. 

Liam raised his eyebrows, challengingly, and it didn’t take long for both of them to start laughing, cackling, like they had seen the funniest thing in the world. 

With a smile still on his face, Liam rolled his chair forward, and went back to work. He didn’t know what Mason did to always make him feel better instantly, but his good mood didn’t leave him again for the rest of the day, and right then, he couldn’t be more thankful for it. 

*********

Slowly, Liam and Theo found a plan coming together, an order in which they were gonna plan things, and after finding out the budget from Mrs. Martin and retrieving a little extra from the others around the office - Scott, Lydia and Stiles were glad to give - they followed the planning according to the Excel spread Theo made. 

Liam rolled his eyes the first time they did, but he knew he wasn’t gonna win the fight if he brought it up and countered it. He didn’t have the strength in him to make a discussion out of it, it was only party planning anyway. It wasn’t so important. And so he bit his tongue, followed Theo’s lead, and rolled with it. 

‘Let’s see, let’s see…’ Theo mumbled, fumbling through the list he had printed out as they walked through the main street, the place decorated with an abundance of twinkling Christmas lights and a decorated tree on the market place. It made Liam feel warm, like he was in Christmas town itself. ‘Location…’

‘The office,’ Liam cut him off easily, looking around sticking his hands in his pockets. ‘For once don’t make it harder than it has to be, we’ve always done the logical thing. And let’s not forget what we’re here for.’

‘Right,’ Theo pressed out stiffly, finally lowering the colorful list, and Liam shot him a glance, his eyebrows raised skeptically. ‘Decorations.’ 

Liam gave a resolute nod, crossing his arms, happy to see that they were on the same page and Theo listened for once, even when Theo’s fidgeting from the corner of his eye wouldn’t leave him alone, and worked desperately on his nerves, until he couldn’t take it anymore. 

‘Alright,’ he sighed, snapping, crossing his arms and turning to Theo as resolutely as he could, that told Theo he didn’t tolerate denial or avoiding the question this time. ‘What’s wrong with you?’

‘Nothing! Nothing’s wrong. What makes you think anything is wrong?’ Theo snapped back in response, running his hands up and down his waist agitatedly. 

Liam sighed, raising his eyebrows challengingly, daring Theo to argue on this with him. ‘You’re even more uptight than usual. Can you just relax?’ as he already turned to start walking further again. 

Theo stayed still behind him for another moment before following after him again, making no effort to catch up with him this time. ‘I just don’t like this place...’ he mumbled, grumbling, though the wind carried his voice toward Liam’s ears. 

‘Clearly,’ he uttered, sticking his hands in his pockets to avoid the cold blowing December wind around them. ‘But this is only main street, I think we’ll be fine,’ unable to stop the sarcasm over wanting Theo to act normal and hurry up from dripping from his voice. Secretly, he couldn’t help but wonder why, why Theo didn’t like the main street, but in the end he couldn’t bring himself to ask, knew that if he did he would get snapped at, and he couldn’t bring himself to feel like he should do it. 

They went into Target, where they knew they could find the best Christmas decorations, and after agreeing not to split up after a little argument, to avoid the both of them coming back with mismatching decorations, they made their way over to the Christmas section. 

‘Which one should we take?’ Liam asked, rummaging through the shelves. ‘Red or white? I think we need at least enough tinsel,’ and he turned, throwing the red tinsel he had pulled out from underneath in the basket Theo held in his hands. 

Theo scoffed, sending Liam a degrading smile, a sarcastic chuckle as if he was looking at a child rather than just his own coworker, and pulled at something that poked out from under the other decorations on the shelves. ‘Green,’ and Liam stared at him long and hard for a moment, considering him, his arms crossed and his head tilted. 

With that, he turned, sucking in a sharp breath. ‘This is why we shouldn’t do anything together,’ he couldn’t stop from spilling past his lips, a secret whisper meant to be heard by no one but himself. They could never agree on fucking anything.

But of course, Theo did anyway. 

‘Okay, you know what…!?’ he started angrily, his voice coming out in heat fire shooting from his eyes, fed up with Liam and having had enough of his ambiguous comments, stepping closer to him as anger colored his cheeks red. ‘I…’ 

He fell silent then, couldn't get far enough to finish his sentence, as he was cut off as someone called his name, a woman speaking up at them at the end of the aisle. ‘Theo?’ 

And Theo cut himself off, jumping at the call of his name and the familiarity of the woman’s voice, and snapped his head towards with eyes blown wide in shock, his lips pressed tightly together in a thin line. 

‘...Mrs. Miller.’

And Liam couldn’t do anything to hide his surprise, couldn’t help but let it show, as he followed Theo’s gaze towards the older lady at the end of the aisle who Theo _clearly_ knew, walking towards them, and his brows knitted together in confusion. She walked closer, her smile growing gradually sadder as she did, and Liam looked over at Theo along with her, who had paled considerably. 

And once again, Liam couldn’t stop himself from wondering what was going on. 

‘I haven’t seen you in so long, how are you?’ the lady, Mrs. Miller as Theo had called her, asked sweetly, placing her hand on Theo’s shoulder friendly and squeezed gently. Liam frowned, looking between her and Theo in curiosity, biting on his lip as he took in the look of anguish that was showing on Theo’s face. It was unlike anything he had ever really seen before on the man’s face, usually he was all grumpy, smirking or unimpressed, and Liam thought it was safe to say it looked a little strange. 

The unhappy little flutter in Liam’s stomach also told him that he would rather have one of those more familiar expressions back on Theo’s face, as at least he knew how to deal with those. 

‘You know, the usual, still got the job,’ Theo replied, and Liam chewed on his lip as he pretended not to have noticed the crack in his voice, the clipped way in which they were softly uttered, the silent mood of unspoken uncertainty and the tangible kind of sadness suddenly hanging around him out of nowhere. 

Liam couldn’t help but wonder what was happening, as he was looking between them as they talked, couldn’t get the thought and the secret silent wish to learn more of what was going on out of his mind. 

‘Well, of course you do, you always work so hard,’ Mrs. Miller complimented, placing a hand on his arm and the tone of admiration clouding her voice as Theo offered up a small forced smile in return. For once, Liam managed to brush off the snort that usually escaped his lips whenever someone brought up Theo’s work, when he would think of how _of course Theo worked hard_ , when he would make sure there was no other work left to do for anyone in the office. Mrs. Miller didn’t seem to know anything about that, instead just seeming proud of Theo, and Liam wasn’t about to change kind ladies’ minds for the worse. 

‘And your mother?’ Mrs. Miller asked more quietly next, her voice pained and matching the expression on her face, and Liam watched as the corners of Theo’s mouth pulled down unhappily, following Mrs. Miller’s lead as a pained look dawned on his face. ‘I haven’t seen her in so long.’ 

Mrs. Miller frowned as she thought about what was on her mind, about how to best form the words to say what she wanted to say next, and Liam frowned, trying to take a mental guess about what it could be before taking a small step back and removing himself from the conversation politely, letting them talk. 

‘Is she still… After your…?’

‘Yeah,’ Theo breathed, and Liam could see him rubbing over his face quickly and tiredly, cutting her off before she could finish her sentence and sparing a hurried glance in Liam’s direction, his shoulders hunched. 

A heavy feeling settled over Liam, not getting a good feeling from this talk, but he understood Theo didn’t want him there to be involved or listening, and he pretended to suddenly be really interested in a small stuffed Santa on the shelf. 

That wasn’t to say he wasn’t curious about what was happening, and that he and Theo didn’t have a history of arguing with each other and headbutting each other, making the other’s life more difficult, but that was usually about things that were pretty surface level, not things that could be severely harmful, and his mother had always raised him to be polite and kind. He knew that however curious he may be, as he took a step back, that that was no excuse to be intrusive about something that was clearly private and uncomfortable to Theo, and seemed to hurt him. The man may act like a jerk more times than not, but that didn’t mean Liam had to do that as well at times when it mattered the most. 

‘Oh, I’m sorry dear,’ Mrs. Miller spoke softly, squeezing his arm. ‘But you know, my door’s open, and you are always welcome with me anytime. My cookie recipe hasn’t changed one bit since you were young,’ and a mischievous smile lit up her face, sparkling in her eyes. Theo let out a sad chuckle, his relief spilling over his lips with it, and Liam’s chest warmed at the sound and Mrs. Miller’s sentiment despite himself as he glanced over from under his lashes. 

He suddenly kinda wished his mother had a friend like Mrs. Miller. He got a feeling she would be a joy to be around during the holiday season. 

‘Thank you,’ Theo pressed out, his voice strangled clearly overcome with the invitation, and as something twisted in Liam’s chest, Mrs. Miller nodded, smiling sadly. 

Liam kept browsing the shelves with useless knick-knacks, quietly, as they talked, about everything and nothing, and stray words of Theo’s college time and finishing his graduation sometimes floating his way. He realized he had no idea what Theo had done in college, apparently it was marketing, and not all that different from what Liam had done. 

‘Would you look at the time… I’m so sorry dear,’ Mrs. Miller uttered after what felt like a while, Liam having followed bits and pieces of the conversation like background noise as he browsed mindlessly, and she looked up at Theo. ‘I really should get on, the groceries are waiting. But it was lovely seeing you. My door’s always open for you,’ she reminded him, and Liam glanced over as he had a cheap wooden garden decoration in his hands, looking towards them. 

Theo nodded, his lips pressed firmly together at Mrs. Miller’s words, his face pained as his mother’s friend shuffled past him and said her one last goodbye in the form of a hug before rounding the corner. 

Theo stayed still, so incredibly still, staring off into the direction she had disappeared in. Liam turned, putting the small garden gnome decoration back on the shelf hurriedly as if he didn’t want to be found with it, and looked over at Theo as the man took in a deep breath at what’d happened, straightening his back, squaring his shoulders. Wordlessly, Liam took him in, watching as Theo rubbed a hand over his face and a heavy feeling of what he’d witnessed and the man’s response to it settled in his stomach, before Theo remembered that he was still there too. 

With a blank expression he turned over to Liam. And then the Theo as he knew him was back, his face twisting into something disdainful and angry. 

‘We’re going!’ he snarled and stomped past Liam after those words, his shoulder knocking into Liam’s on his way past in the process, hard. Liam suppressed a hiss, rubbing over it, and suddenly, as anger flared up inside of him again, he forgot why he had felt sorry for Theo a moment ago, instead reminded of why he didn’t like the guy. 

Still, that couldn’t stop him from feeling heavy in his stomach at having seen Theo’s face, after his talk with Mrs. Miller, however Theo knew her, and after the situation he’d just witnessed. 

As he caught up with Theo, he found him already standing outside where he had run into the direction of the exit. He took in a deep breath of fresh cold winter air with his eyes closed, standing on the snow-covered sidewalk in front of the shop, and Liam turned towards him. 

There were things he wanted to ask. So many things that bubbled up inside of him and questions he wanted to ask, about who Mrs. Miller was and what seemed to have happened with Theo’s mom, why Theo had seemed so small and unlike himself during that talk in there, but he couldn’t. Bit his tongue out of fear of being intrusive, and bringing back that same uncertain mood around him that Theo had had back there. 

Instead, all that came out before he could change his mind, his face patient and his voice sympathetic, was: ‘Are you okay?’ Looking over Theo. 

With a frozen breath floating away as a small cloud in the wind, Theo snapped his eyes open as if he hadn’t heard him coming outside and looked over at him. The disdainful look from a moment ago had gone to make way for a much more open, hopeless expression that was unfamiliar from him to Liam. He breathed out, quietly. 

‘I don’t know.’

And Liam nodded. Didn’t have the words to say back that that was alright. Stuffing his hands into his pockets shielding them from the cold, looking ahead, a breath forming into a little cloud. And he nodded. 

Sometimes that was okay too. Sometimes you didn’t have the right words to help someone, but you both knew them, nonetheless, and all you had to do was nod to get them across. And sometimes that was okay too. 

*********

Their second round at decoration shopping went much smoother, and though Theo still seemed uptight next to him, causing the two of them to snap at each other in irritation a few times, they weren’t interrupted by people Theo seemed to know anymore. That didn’t mean Liam could forget what he’d witnessed back at Target, how small and so unlike himself Theo had seemed all of a sudden, and the secret wish to know more hadn’t left Liam since then. The question to ask what’d happened burned on his tongue, every time he looked at Theo he was on the brink of asking, but then he couldn’t do it. He remembered the darkened look in Theo’s eyes, the way he’d closed off, and he didn’t want to risk Theo getting mad and snapping at him. Everything else he couldn’t help, but not about this. Not about something that seemed to affect him deeply. His mom had raised him, always teaching him when things got too far and when to stop. 

‘So, I’ve been thinking…’ Liam started as he slid in the booth across from Theo, placing down his gingerbread latte and blueberry muffin and he slid Theo’s own drink over at him. The man sniffed it, scrunching his nose up in distaste at the sweet scent of the Caramel Brûlé Latte as he realized it was another one of the season Starbucks drinks, and Liam couldn’t help but bite his lip to suppress his amused smile. It seemed that Theo did not like festive drinks or season things at all. ‘We should do a theme.’

At that, Theo’s head snapped up, Liam watched his lips curling up in his familiar snarl and he scoffed, but Liam didn’t miss the small lines of amusement that crinkled the corners of Theo’s eyes, something about his disdainful look different than before. ‘A theme?’ he scoffed nonetheless. ‘We aren’t twelve, Liam, and I know I’m probably gonna regret asking this, but what do you have in mind? And I swear, if you say Winter Wonderland, I’m…!’

Liam snorted, warming his hands up at his coffee cup and lifting it up to take a sip. ‘There are other themes, you know that right?’ 

‘Like what?’ Theo’s voice came out challenging, like he wasn’t just going to let Liam get away with it. 

‘Like… Rudolph. Or hanging up a lot of Christmas lights,’ Liam started his suggestion slowly, under Theo’s staring gaze, hiding behind his coffee cup. It would be really nice, as he thought, if Theo would come up with something of his own as well. Usually Theo was so insistent on doing everything himself, on pushing his plans through and sure that his ideas were better than someone else’s, but now he just seemed set on and amused by Liam’s struggling. Though Liam was well aware that Theo was only doing this to see what he would suggest, his amused smirk being proof of that. 

‘Those aren’t themes Liam,’ Theo said deadpan, his voice unimpressed and his eyebrows raised. ‘Those are just… Things that have to do with Christmas.’ 

Liam sighed, his patience running thin and he shot a Theo an unimpressed glance, putting his coffee cup back down. ‘Yeah? Well what do you have then?’ Clearly he was right and Theo didn’t have any ideas either. He wasn’t used to Theo having no input so obviously _purposefully_ , and where it had been amusing, challenging, earlier, now he had lost his fun with it. 

Theo stayed silent, his gaze wandering away from Liam, looking around the coffee shop with a thoughtful look on his face, his hands wrapped around his cup. Liam bit his lip, taking the silence and Theo not noticing him, seemingly lost in his own thoughts, as his chance to take Theo in where he was sitting in the booth across from him. 

There wasn’t a lot he knew about him, he realized. He knew what Theo did for a living at the office, what his responsibilities were, but beyond that, his mind was pretty much blank. He didn’t know where Theo lived or what his hobbies were, if he had a lot of family or who his friends were or what his favorite food or movie was, little things that made him who he was. They’d worked together for four years, and Liam didn’t know any of this stuff about Theo. He knew things like that, more personal things about Scott, or Stiles, or even Lydia. But Theo was closed off like a door locked without a key, like he had a mask on and was hidden behind it, wouldn’t let anyone see past his perfect exterior. Even the tiniest cracks he knew how to avoid. 

But he forgot, Liam had seen a crack in his carefully put up walls, in the harness the man seemed to wear all the time, two days before when they ran into Theo’s mother’s friend at Target. 

Everything about Theo just seemed… Perfect. Polished. Smooth. And Liam suddenly couldn’t help but wonder what was behind that perfect facade, couldn’t help but want to know more, and he certainly couldn’t imagine the amount of pressure that had to go into maintaining all of that. 

When Theo hadn’t moved, his hands never leaving the coffee cup, Liam sighed and squirmed in his seat, rolling his eyes. ‘Will you just drink that?’ he snapped and Theo jumped, startled from his thoughts. 

‘What!?’

‘That!’ Liam nodded towards Theo’s cup, the blueberry muffin still waiting for him. ‘I know you’ve probably got the whole “disliking Christmas” thing down, you know, acting like the Grinch, but you can drink that. It’s just a coffee.’ And then, with Theo staring at him after his outburst with eyes blown wide, realizing he may have been too harsh, Liam continued much more softly: ‘You might even like it.’ 

And Liam couldn’t describe it as anything other than shock, the way Theo looked at him. ‘You think I hate Christmas?’ he asked, quietly, and the heavy feeling that he’d made a mistake with his comment settled over Liam, the shock that he may have been wrong weighing him down. He thought, maybe if he stayed really still, Theo may continue and dive a little deeper into it on his own. ‘I don’t hate Christmas,’ he went on, even quieter than before. ‘I just think… Christmas now, is much too commercialized, and people are forgetting the real meaning of it, and forgetting to just be with the people they love.’

_Wow._

Liam blew out a breath, brushing a hand through his hair. Of course Theo would say something like that, something so perfectly smart and thoughtful, and yet so unexpected coming from him. 

Liam never would’ve thought of the opinion on Christmas taking that shape in the other man’s mind, instead he thought the man’s disdain towards Christmas was a disdain towards the holidays as a whole. He wouldn’t have thought it was just dislike towards the commercialized part of Christmas, not on his own. 

It seemed like there really was a lot more to Theo than he’d always thought, and once again, suddenly Liam couldn’t help but to be curious. 

‘Wow…’ he breathed, looking over, resting his hands on the table. ‘So, that is why you like the office holiday parties so much?’ he asked. Theo, for some reason, had always seemed more relaxed and content there, more at ease, less uptight than most days of working around the office, the tension having left his shoulders. And really, Liam understood why. The atmosphere at parties tended to be way different, the warmth that Christmas brought with it settled over the office during the holidays automatically. It was hard not to be felt, and feel closer to your colleagues. Even for someone who usually didn’t fit into the group so well. 

Theo shrugged, still unfamiliar with discussing this topic so freely, or with Liam. ‘Yeah. I guess so,’ he pressed out, squeezing his hands tighter around his cup, and Liam nodded, letting that be enough again for now. They stayed silent, and Theo took a bite from his muffin, washing it away with the Caramel Brûlé Latte. A small smile curled at the corners of his lips. ‘But this is nice Liam.’ A short silence, settled heavily pressing between them, and then, more quietly: ‘You were right.’

A faint warmth flooded Liam’s chest and he nodded, the smug smirk that he couldn’t even begin to hope to stop growing on his face. ‘Did you just admit to me being right at something? Over you?’ he couldn’t help it, couldn’t help rubbing it in. 

Theo stared at him, hard, his face pointed and unimpressed, ‘No,’ but Liam couldn’t help but notice the slight difference, that it wasn’t as intimidating as most days when the man would walk around the office. 

The silence returned, and Liam finished his muffin and sipped his coffee peacefully, before Theo interrupted it again. 

‘Liam?’

‘Yeah?’ 

Theo’s eyes were amused as he continued. ‘I know something,’ and he didn’t have to elaborate for Liam to know what he was talking about, his mind jumping to the right topic about his question about Theo’s idea for a party theme immediately. ‘Come on!’ 

Theo jumped up from his seat, abandoning his almost empty coffee cup, the paper his muffin had been wrapped in, and Liam looked up at him with a surprised grin. Theo had never been this not-serious at work, Liam only knew his grim look from around the office, even when he did what he enjoyed most and took charge. Chuckling quietly despite himself, he got up to gather his things. 

As he ran after Theo out of Starbucks, the two of them throwing their trash in the trash can, he couldn’t help but let his attention be caught by the decorative glittering snowflakes behind the counter that Theo had been looking at, and his chest warmed as he suddenly had a better idea of what Theo had in mind. 

*********

‘So, first off, we need the snowflakes.’ Liam didn’t hesitate to grab them from the shelves, dropping them on the basket hanging from Theo’s arm with a grin. ‘White tinsel.’

_From the shelves._

‘White Christmas tree decorations.’

_Into the basket._

Theo followed him with suspicious eyes, trailing after him as Liam hurried past the shelves, throwing random white, silver or gold decorations in the basket that got heavier and heavier with each one. 

‘You’re like a cheetah, did anyone ever tell you that?’ the words leaving Theo’s mouth before he could stop himself, before he could think the better of it, and Liam turned around with a spark of amusement in his eyes where he stood a few feet in front of Theo. Hiding his shock with what he’d said, his eyes blown wide, Theo continued: ‘Sometimes trying to prove you’re the best is an insult,’ when actually, what he’d meant was, was how fast Liam was, how lively and full of fight. 

Liam didn’t seem impressed, at the words, he just snorted. ‘Really?’ his eyebrows shooting up to his hairline. ‘That must be why you’re so great at them.’ 

With that, laughing, cackling to himself about his own joke, he turned back around, walking further with his hands warm in the pockets of his coat and checking out the decorations with wide critical eyes as Theo stood still in stunned silence behind him for a moment longer, before he scrambled to catch up with Liam again. 

It wasn’t hard to figure out what Liam had meant, by his words. Theo was well aware of his reputation at the office, well aware of how he didn’t have many friends like the others did, like Liam did, and he didn’t fit into the group as well as they did. He knew he could be quite prickly to other people, rather than inviting them to get close to him, he was his own person and he kept to himself, and up until now he’d always rather liked it that way. 

But now. Now he wasn’t so sure anymore. 

Liam wasn’t any of those things that he was, everything about Liam was warm, buzzing, _alive._ He had friends at the office, close friends and fit into the group quite well, and now that Theo’d had a taste of that friendliness, he suddenly understood the appeal of it a little better. He wondered what it was like. What would it be like to fit in, to have people there to share hard things about your day with?

‘Theo?’ Liam interrupted his thoughts, startling him. ‘Are you coming?’ a wide grin so enthusiastic starting on his face. ‘We still have much to do.’ 

‘Y-Yeah,’ Theo stuttered, taking in a deep breath, hurrying over to Liam. 

Liam was right. They still had decorations to buy, much more decorations for the tree and the office, groceries to do and think of whether casual or slightly more formal clothing would be good for the party. They had to decide on music, gifts, whether to bring party games or any other little things that might be fun. And now that they’d finally had a plan, one that they somehow both agreed to, all of those tasks might go a hell of a lot smoother. But still, Theo couldn’t get the thought out of his head. Was Liam his friend? Could he share personal things about himself with Liam?

Theo knew that he hadn’t been acting like himself. He realized he had never been so unsure. But he couldn’t stop thinking about how badly and unexpectedly he wanted the answer to be _yes_. 

*********

Now that they’d had the decorations, enough to drown the office in, and that part of the plan had sailed by smoothly, it was time for groceries. 

Theo had made a grocery list, and unsurprisingly, Liam didn’t agree with him. 

He glowered, yanking the list out of Theo’s hands on their way into the supermarket. ‘I can see that once again you’ve been way too ambitious for this!’ Liam stated loudly, matter-of-factly, though his comment lacked any real bite, the way that it would have done before. ‘We’re not going for a sit-down meal, Theo. Snacks or a little buffet would be more than enough.’

‘Really?’ Theo countered skeptically, yanking the list back from him and raising his eyebrows as they walked further into the store, turning to look at Liam. ‘Need I remind you that I’m the one who’s already done this once, and thus the one with experience?’

Liam sighed, his lips pressed firmly together, but when he turned to Theo there was a forced smile on his lips. ‘Well,’ he said, voice slightly clipped. ‘It’s not like you would ever let me forget it,’ and Theo was ashamed to admit, not saying it out loud to anyone, that the words hit him hard, knocking the air out of his lungs. 

He knew, much like he’d thought before, of his reputation and his habits around the office, but he’d never really stopped to understand what the effect that that had on other people was. Hearing what other people thought of him, really thought of him, and how it made Liam feel, was hard. But with the way things had slowly grown more amicable between them over the past few days, and Theo knew that that was partly thanks to his talk with Mrs. Miller that Liam had overheard and was gonna ask about eventually, the curiosity shining in the man’s eyes even though it terrified Theo to the bone, he knew that Liam didn’t mean it in the harsh way. 

Liam sighed, turning to him and forcing a smile, forcing the bad mood to fade between them. ‘Look,’ he said, any previous trace of irritation gone from his voice, and Theo let out a soft breath. ‘Just think back on the holiday parties we’ve had in the past, yeah? Are they really more complicated than enjoying each other, with a drink and a bite of food?’ and Theo had to give it to him, he was right. Their office holiday parties were usually low-key but nice, a feeling of closeness hanging over all of them, the music softly playing was nice and sometimes they would play a game, with the exception of when he and Lydia had organized. That year it was a little bigger. Theo knew it couldn’t be any other way with Lydia’s organizing skills, and he blamed his own perfectionism along with it. But he felt warm inside during their parties, for one night enjoying the way everyone was treated differently and how the parts everyone played around the office fell away, how _he_ was included, and Theo could see why Liam didn’t think it necessary to change that. 

‘You’re right,’ he admitted, and smiled as Liam did, at how good it felt to say that. ‘So…’ And with a chuckle he yanked the list back from Liam, ‘What do we need first? Mini-pizzas… Pigs in blankets… Oh! I know how to make stuffed spinach rolls.’

Liam grinned as he looked over at him, pushing his shoulder, clearly happy to have the fun mood back. ‘Of course you do, is there anything you can’t do? You’re probably like a super chef or something. We’d have to cook those things together.’

‘You said it, not me,’ Theo joked back, looking at the list again, though he couldn’t stop Liam’s question from settling in the back of his mind, where it stayed. He knew the other didn’t mean it seriously, _is there anything you can’t do,_ but here he was, as Theo slowly came to realize that it was just another of keeping people out. Just another way of making himself seem untouchable to people. When for once, he understood that it meant keeping the good things out with the bad, and for once, he couldn’t help but wonder what it’d be like to let it be different. 

They made their way past the shelves, through the aisles grabbing everything that was on the list, and a little more, as they walked past things that got them excited or they thought they could cook something else with. By the end of their shopping trip their cart was stuffed full to the top, and as Theo wondered if they had gone over the top, Liam’s face lit up at something he saw behind Theo.

‘Theo! You have to try those on!’ and Theo whirled around on his feet as Liam walked around him, snatching up one of the Santa hats from the shelf behind him. 

As soon as Theo realized what it was, what Liam was holding, a dreaded feeling settled in his stomach, and he was sure that was showing on his face as well, feeling his eyes darkening. ‘Liam, no,’ his voice came out stern. 

But Liam had already placed it on his head, a laugh lighting up his face having pulled out his phone, and with the way Theo could feel the hat on top of his head, he couldn’t keep up his irritated facade for long. 

A smile tugging at the corner of his lips, he chuckled along with Liam quietly, to himself, and didn’t protest as Liam snapped a picture of him. 

‘For Mason,’ he explained with bright eyes, and Theo couldn’t even bring himself to feel opposed to other people seeing him like this, and protesting against it. 

*********

Liam’s apartment was nice, to say the least. Theo wasn’t really sure what he’d expected from it, but he was pleasantly surprised to say that it fit Liam, it felt almost just as warm as him. It wasn’t big, but it had a nice, homely feel to it, and Theo could see why Liam had chosen this place. 

‘Welcome to my humble home,’ Liam welcomed him exaggeratedly, with an amused smirk. 

Theo snorted, walking inside looking around with a smile. ‘It’s nice,’ he uttered quietly, feeling like the word was too small to quite describe what he saw and not really knowing what to do with himself, how to hold himself up, as Liam closed the door behind them. 

Chuckling, Liam turned, speaking up behind Theo before he turned around. ‘Thanks! It’s not much, but it suffices.’

Theo wasn’t sure if he agreed with that modest explanation, looking around and couldn’t help but compare the small apartment to his own house without realizing, one that was modernly furnished, and welcomed the relaxed feeling he instantly got from the apartment. 

Liam turned around, snorting as he almost bumped against Theo. ‘You would think you had never been to someone’s house before,’ he joked, rambling on as he walked further, and relaxation returned to Theo’s shoulders as he did, a relieved smirk making its way onto his face. ‘Come on, do you want anything to drink, you can leave your gloves and beanie in the hallway, sit anywhere you want.’ And Theo chuckled quietly to himself. At least Liam’s rambling was one thing that hadn’t changed. 

He fell down on the seat by Liam’s table where the man’s laptop was stood, and Liam put his backpack away against the wall, but he didn’t join him. 

‘Hot chocolate?’ he asked, though before Theo could answer, his mouth already open, Liam cut them both off, already spinning on his heels. ‘Hot chocolate,’ and Theo couldn’t stop the snort that spilled over his lips. 

When Liam joined him again, placing down two steaming hot mugs of chocolate on the table carefully and the sweet scent pricking in Theo’s nose, the laptop was started up soon enough, Spotify showing itself on the screen. 

‘So…’ Liam started, reaching over Theo for the mouse. ‘The classics first, I assume?’

‘That depends on what you consider the classics.’ Theo turned his head, his voice coming out muttering, skeptical, and he hadn’t realized how close his face was to Liam’s when he did. 

Liam’s eyes were wide, shocked, startled, and he stared at Theo frozen, not even knowing what it was that he did, and Theo wasn’t any different, staring back not tearing his gaze away, until a cough escaped him, clearing his throat. 

Liam jumped, leaning back turning away from him and eyes fixating on the screen, in a way that left Theo wondering if he could even really focus on it. He sighed, not knowing what that strange, empty feeling reminding him strongly of disappointment, was doing inside of him. 

‘So… _Driving Home For Christmas_?’ Liam asked in a strained voice, and Theo hated that sullen tone in which he spoke, would gladly take it away. 

Instead, he just nodded numbly, turning back to where Liam had made a new playlist for the party, and said nothing, sitting on his hands and catching the man’s movements from the corner of his eye. 

Luckily, the tension between them, the mood that had always been between them but seemed so strange after working closer together than ever for the past couple of days, seeped away again then, and a laugh lit up Liam’s face as he summed up the Christmas songs he loved the most. 

‘ _All I want for Christmas, Last Christmas, It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas_ …’ The smile was reflected in Liam’s eyes and Theo had way too much fun leaning back and watching him fill the playlist at a rapid speed, just like when they went decoration shopping, occasionally naming a song title of his own that he liked, to comment on it. The playlist for the party might as well have been Liam’s creation entirely, and Theo would gladly let him brag about it at the party if the moment arose, for once he wouldn’t take the credit for all of the work. 

Neither of them noticed as it turned later and later, the hands of the clock ticking by and Liam refilled their mugs of hot chocolate twice, enough to have given Theo a stomach ache if he had been literally anywhere else with any other person, and the playlist was long done when they ended up on the couch instead with Liam pouring something stronger for them than hot chocolate. 

‘I remember my mom letting me buy a new Christmas decoration for the tree every year when I was younger,’ Liam said, as they’d ended up next to each other. 

Theo didn’t think he had ever felt something as nice and soft as the couch cushions in his back and Liam’s voice came out soft and vulnerable and Theo turned his head towards him lazily. The whisky in his glass already worked its magic in making him feel comfortable and numbing the question of what it meant to suddenly notice the sparkling blue in Liam’s eyes, and why he felt so relaxed in that moment. Why Liam was telling him something so completely random yet something that seemed so important and vulnerable to him was beyond him, remained a mystery, but he thought if he stayed really still, more from Liam might come. 

‘What was the last thing you brought home?’ he asked hoarsely, and he couldn’t stop his voice from coming out strained. 

Liam smiled, an ever so small smile stretching at his lips as he looked over at Theo, both of them sitting down slumped on the couch. 

‘A little angel, with even smaller golden wings, that I could hang in the tree myself.’ Liam sighed, dropping his head back against the couch. ‘It was broken a year later.’

Something stung in Theo’s chest at the words, imagining little Liam disappointed coming downstairs on Christmas morning to find his new decoration was broken as he studied the whiskey in his glass to avoid looking anywhere else, though in the end he couldn’t keep it up. 

He sighed, looking over taking a sip, and asking the question that had been screaming in his mind and burning on his tongue ever since they went shopping for decorations. 

‘Why are you being so nice to me?’

And Liam sighed, looking over at him sadly, in a way that Theo knew how to recognize it for what it was, apologetic. ‘Because I just… We have to work together for this. And I think that would make it a whole lot easier if we didn’t… Fight all the time.’ 

Theo nodded, biting his lip turning away as he couldn’t help but feel a bit disappointed at that explanation, though from the way Liam looked at him, fire fiercely ablaze in his blue eyes, he knew that wasn’t the only reason. And just like before, he didn’t want that to be the only reason for them to work together, just like Liam, and he couldn’t keep the distance between them up, his eyes wandering back to Liam. 

He almost couldn’t believe how beautiful Liam looked in the light of his lamps, how he had never noticed that before, how the man’s eyes looked sharp, fierce but kind though never directed at him that way before, and much time Theo had foolishly let pass by without giving him an honest chance. His prejudices always clouded his mind before. But now here he was, slumped back on the couch of the man he never thought he would hang out with just like this, feeling completely relaxed acting exactly like he would at home, and he never saw the other man more clearly. 

A breath escaped Theo, he tapped his fingers on his jeans as he took a sip from his whiskey and looked over, immediately catching Liam’s gaze as his blue eyes were already on him. 

Just like he’d thought before, the curiosity about Mrs. Miller growing in Liam’s eyes, it did now as well, the hope that he would tell him shining from his eyes. And though the thought of telling the story terrified Theo, making him feel almost nauseous and heavy in his gut, he sighed, looking down at where he held his glass between his hands. He couldn’t stop thinking about a moment before, when they’d silently agreed that simply not fighting wasn’t a good enough reason for them to get along anymore, he didn’t want to lose Liam being kind to him after this was all over, and a sigh escaped him. If he didn’t want to lose Liam offering his friendship to him, he would have to do something for it, and though it frightened him completely, he was ready to make the sacrifice. 

Liam watched as something flickered in Theo’s eyes, something turning serious and pained where he sat slumped back against the couch, and he followed Theo leaning forward and pouring himself another shot of whiskey, before drinking it and looking down at where he spun his glass hopelessly around in his hands. 

Something was wrong. That much was clear to Liam, as he looked over at the other man where he sat looking defeated slumped on the couch, his newly made work friend in a bond that was still so fragile, sitting hurting beside him for a reason he did not know. Something troubling was eating him up from the inside out, and something sharp stung in Liam’s chest, painfully, as he wanted to help, and he could only wait, _hope_ , that Theo would trust him and tell him what it was. 

With the kindest look he could muster, he looked over catching Theo’s gaze and holding it, smiling faintly and signaling as best as he could that it was okay, whatever he wanted to do, whether he wanted to talk or not. But Liam couldn’t help but let his pained curiosity grow, he wanted to help Theo, hurting along with him if Theo wasn’t okay. A painful worry settled over him, and he knew Theo saw that too. He hoped that Theo would trust him, his hands itching to reach over and cover Theo’s own for silent support.

Theo sighed, looking up, and he bit his lip working up the courage to talk about what he wanted to, before looking back over at Liam. 

‘That was… Mrs. Miller, who came to talk to me in Target,’ Theo started, pushing out the words. He didn’t meet Liam’s gaze, staring at his hands picking at his skin instead, and Liam’s heart throbbed, slumping down bumping his shoulder against Theo’s in silent support. ‘She was a friend of my mom’s. They were, closer, when I was younger, she often babysat for me, looked out for me, made me tea or put on a band aid on a scraped knee, and I could just… She was someone I could always go to, and always trust, and her door would be open.’

Liam nodded as Theo looked up at him, quietly questioning, and Liam wordlessly reached out to cover the man’s hand with his own as he thought back on meeting her with the beginning of a smile on his lips. She’d seemed warm then to him too, caring, kind-hearted, like someone Liam would want to know in his life. 

‘Growing up, her house was like a second home,’ Theo continued, and Liam’s heart constricted painfully at the pained undertone of Theo’s voice. ‘But my mom and her grew apart a long while ago. It wasn’t Mrs. Miller’s fault. She tried to be there, tried to let their friendship continue and grow. But my mom… She had a way of keeping people out, her habit that started a while before.’ Maybe that’s where he got it from, Theo thought bitterly, though a part of him _knew_ that he did. 

Theo exhaled a shaky breath, and Liam bit his lips, holding onto his hands, wondering how he was gonna continue. 

‘My sister died, when I was seventeen,’ Theo’s breath stocked, hitching in his throat coming out a gasp, and a feeling of earth-shattering dread dawned on Liam, staring down at Theo in absolute shock, his mouth hanging open. As he did, it became clear that Theo was crying, silent, small tears rolling down his cheeks, and Liam’s heart ached, breaking for him as he held on tighter. ‘She… She was ill.’ _A gasp._ ‘There wasn’t much we could do, except make it as comfortable as possible for her in the hospital.’ _A sob._ ‘She was my best friend. It tore our family apart. Suddenly my sister, who protected me at school and helped me with my homework, was gone. And I have been taking care of myself since then, swearing to her that she would never need to protect me again.’ 

And then he was crying, and Liam’s heart was breaking, tears of his own blurring his vision where he held onto Theo tightly, the boy leaning against his shoulder and tears dampening his shirt. 

Liam didn’t even feel it, too shocked to do so, as a tear overflowed and spilled out of his eye. 

Theo’s sister had died, and here he was not even knowing that he’d had a sister! Liam knew then, that everything he thought he knew had fundamentally changed, his world flipped upside down, and it would never be the same. 

‘Liam?’ Theo started next to him, croaking, his voice coming out hoarsely and holding onto Liam’s shirt tightly, where he looked up at him with red-rimmed eyes. Liam’s chest stung, sharply, where he looked down at him and forced an encouraging smile. ‘Yeah?’ but his voice cracked. 

‘I’m sorry about work,’ Theo pushed out, his words hard to hear with his crying, and Liam hated the way his face was tear-streaked. He would do anything to make it stop. To help. And he combed his hands through Theo’s hair softly, calmly. ‘I’m sorry about what I do. I’m sorry about taking all the work and hoarding the projects.’ A silence, Theo gasped. ‘I just wanted her to be proud of me!’

And just like that, just when Liam thought it couldn’t hurt him any further, the words split his heart down the middle. And all he could do was hold onto Theo tight, where his head rested against Liam’s stomach as he cried, and his arms were wrapped tightly around Liam as he understood. And Liam sat there, hurting, and his fingers brushed through Theo’s hair as he uttered quiet words of: ‘Sshh, it’s okay. You’re okay. You’re okay.’

He never thought he would see this side of Theo. Not as they first met, and not during the whole time they’d known each other. But as they sat there, longer and longer as it turned later and later, something clicked inside Liam, and all the puzzle pieces started falling together. As surreal as it was, to have the man who was his rival at work for so long crying on his shoulder, their competition for the promotion not having left Liam’s mind just yet, he vowed to himself to hold onto Theo and be there when the man needed him right then and there.

It wasn’t enough, and the longer he sat there, Theo’s arms wrapped around his middle, the clearer it became, the words burning on Liam’s tongue begging to be released until he couldn’t hold them in anymore. He sighed, brushing his fingers through Theo’s hair. ‘Your sister is proud of you. I know she is. You don’t need to do anything extra to make that happen.’

It stayed silent, for a few long, painful, tense moments, and for a second Liam began to wonder whether Theo had heard him. But then the other man looked up, freeing himself from Liam’s arms just a little, and met Liam’s gaze with his tear-streaked face. Liam swallowed, something twisting painfully inside him at the sight of it. 

Then Theo dropped back against Liam, resting his head against his stomach again. His voice was muffled by Liam’s shirt, but he still didn’t miss the way Theo said his next words, weakly, strangled and defeated. 

‘Thank you.’ 

*********

‘Theo? I pulled out the couch bed in the study room.’

Liam stood in the doorway, hand against the frame, where Theo stood in the bathroom, cleaning himself up a bit. There was no way he was gonna let Theo drive home after what’d happened, let alone drunk, and the unspoken announcement that Theo could stay here for the night had hung between them. 

His eyes were still red-rimmed as he looked over at Liam, but he wasn’t crying anymore and smiling a small smile, and Liam wasn’t hurting anymore. ‘Thank you.’ Things that had been long overdue, had finally been spoken out loud between them. 

Liam gave a nod, smiling, feeling glad that Theo had decided to trust him, that he knew a bigger piece of the truth now that he hadn’t known for years and understood Theo’s reasoning and work habits, and glad that things had been cleared up between them. ‘Are you okay?’ he asked, searching Theo’s face concerned. 

‘I don’t know,’ and Theo gave him the same answer he did when Liam caught him outside of Target, nodding, only this time he made sure to pull Theo into a hug, the breath of relief spilling from the other’s lips reaching his ears. ‘But I will be. I always will be.’ 

And Liam nodded against him, rubbing Theo’s hand, but as they stood wrapped in a hug, in the doorway, Liam made the quiet promise to himself that he wouldn’t be okay with that. He wouldn’t settle for that. Life was supposed to be good, to be lived happily, and Liam said to himself right then and there that he would always try to get Theo to that spot somewhere between “okay” and “good”, just a little higher. Just always a little bit better than “okay”. 

They split up for the night, separated to each walk to their respective rooms, and Liam turned, grinning at how cute Theo looked in the pajamas he’d lent him. 

Theo smirked, knowing exactly where Liam’s thoughts had taken him, and Liam flipped him off. His cheeks burned. ‘Good night Theo.’

‘Night Liam,’ he smiled. 

And they turned, Liam closing the door behind him as he heard Theo do the same, shooting a last glance in his direction. And he leaned against the door before going to sleep, sighing, feeling like a school boy with a crush again, and feeling more buzzing with excitement than ever before. 

*********

‘...iam? Liam?’ 

‘Hnnngg.’ Liam curled himself up into a ball, hurling his pillow into the direction of whatever dared to disturb his sleep, pressing his hands over his ears. His face was scrunched up in disdain, discomfort. Why couldn’t they just leave him alone!? Let him sleep!? 

‘Ow, shit!’ a deep voice cursed, that Liam swore he knew from somewhere, and he squeezed his bed covers tighter between his hands. ‘Fine, if I’d known you were gonna be like that I wouldn’t have come in here to wake you! I can just go, and you can be late!’

‘Hmm?’ Liam rolled over in his bed, and the sudden realization of what was going on settled in, and he jumped up with a jolt, looking around the room tangled up in his bed covers, his hair sticking out in every direction. And he couldn’t believe he was gonna be late for work again! 

‘Theo,’ he blurted, looking as if he just saw the man for the first time in his life, where he stood by his bed with his arms crossed and his face impatient as he waited for Liam to finally wake up, repressing a snort. 

‘Yeah. Hi. Good morning,’ he waved, sarcasm lacing his voice. ‘As much as I would like to go into all of… That,’ he said, nodding towards Liam’s bedhead, and he checked the time on his phone. ‘It’s good to see you’ve joined the land of the living again. We have to be at work in 35 minutes, and somehow I’m not surprised to see you’re not a morning person.’ 

At the words, registering them, Liam jolted up in shock, gaping at Theo. ‘35 minutes!?’ And that after he’d vowed to himself that he would never be late for work again! 

Theo nodded, a grim smile tugging at his lips. ‘Yeah, so come on, get dressed, I already got you this.’ And with that, he held out a cup of coffee to Liam, complete with lid, and freshly made. 

Liam looked up, feeling his cheeks heat up and his chest flood with warmth, suddenly feeling grateful that Theo was there. ‘Thank you…’ he uttered the words quietly, warmly. 

Theo nodded, sighing, and turned to leave the room. ‘Just… Be there in a few minutes,’ he ordered, though Liam didn’t miss the way his voice had suddenly grown quieter too, and a warmth swelled in his chest, as he noticed that Theo was dressed already. Of course he was, Liam thought with a smile, more and better put together than him. 

With one swift move he swung the covers aside and got out of bed, putting his feet on the cold floor. And while he got dressed, pulling out his nicest blue sweater from the closet - suddenly it felt really important that he looked nice - he already took a few sips from his coffee, that warmed his stomach. 

As he walked down the hallway, not five minutes later which had to be a record, Theo was waiting for him by the door with a breakfast sandwich and eyes that lit up with relief when he saw him, happy that he wasn’t late, Liam had the fleeting thought that he wouldn’t mind mornings like this more often. And though he knew they were gonna have to hurry up, it was a common occurrence that the way out of his parking lot was clogged with cars, this was gonna be one panicked car ride that Liam wasn’t gonna mind as much as the ones that had come before. 

*********

‘Go, go, go!’ Theo shouted as soon as they’d arrived, racing through the snow-covered parking lot with screeching tires in search of a parking space until they’d found one, and for a moment Liam had held on tight afraid of going to crash when they slipped around the corner, until Theo brought the car to a stop with a disturbing amount of experience. 

For a moment, they sat, tense, chests rising and falling fast after what Liam was sure had been the scariest moment of his life, and slowly, ever so slowly, their heads turned, towards each other. 

That was when Liam burst out laughing, cackling, all the tension leaving his body at once, and dropping his head back against the car seat. ‘Oh… My God!’ he hiccupped, panting, trying to catch his breath, as he looked towards Theo. ‘Have you done this before!?’ 

‘Liam…’ Theo started, attempting to keep his voice in check and sound threatening, though Liam didn’t miss the way Theo’s eyes crinkled at the edges and the corner of his mouth curled up in slight amusement, and it only made him laugh harder, all over again. ‘Just get out of the car now,’ Theo gave up, a small smile pulling at his lips as he chuckled softly along with Liam, and Liam breathed in deep, looking over at him as he wrenched the car door open. 

He decided to do what Theo said for now, not wanting to make the other man even later than they already were. He thought the other had never been late anywhere in his life, and you had to start small of course. Work your way up Though, despite that, Liam sincerely hoped that this would also be the last time he was late for him. ‘Sure,’ Liam smiled. ‘Come on. We still have time left.’

‘I know,’ Theo deadpanned, sarcastically, though Liam could see amusement in his eyes, the other’s strictness not quite reaching them. ‘That is the only reason why I’m letting you get away with this.’

Liam snorted, giving him a push and cackled as Theo stumbled through the snow and flipped him off. They might bicker still, but with the amused undertone that had changed and the intent to hurt each other where it hit the hardest gone, and with last night in mind, Liam had faith more things would turn positive as well. 

*********

The meeting went by quiet and tense again, much as Liam was used to, as Mrs. Martin talked through the usual points on the agenda. Though under the table he fidgeted busy with his hands, waiting until it was over and he could take Mrs. Martin’s spot at the front for the news about the party with Theo excitedly and agitatedly. 

When it was finally time, Liam’s head snapped up, and Mrs. Martin said with a nod in their direction: ‘Now, I’m sure Liam and Theo are very glad to tell you when to be here for the holiday party.’

Liam couldn’t stop the faint smile that started on his face as he looked over at Theo if he wanted to, checking to see if the other man was ready, and he nodded. They stood up, making their way to the front of the room. 

‘I’m sure you’ve all been waiting to hear more about this,’ Liam started with a smile, feeling Theo’s tension slowly flowing away from him where the other man stood next to him. He repressed the urge to reach over and take Theo’s hand, much as he had done the night before when Theo had poured his heart out to him, encouraged by the whiskey and the tipsiness that had followed as a result. ‘Theo and I are still very busy with the preparations, but we have planned the party to be at December 24. That way, everyone can still go home to see their families on time.’

Their colleagues nodded, smiling excited for the party, and Liam shot Theo a look. As he looked back into the room, he caught Mason looking at him, glancing between him and Theo with a challenging expression, his eyebrows raised. Liam felt like his heart was set on fire, feeling his stomach drop with absolute dread at having been found out so early on and shot him a warning glare, but Mason didn’t seem phased, his smirk only growing. Liam sighed quietly, ignoring him instead turning back to the announcement. 

‘The party will start at 19.30, so we expect you all to be there in a festive mood!’ Theo declared with a grin, his shoulders dropped, and Liam grinned, nodding to support his words. 

‘And what kind of party is it?’ Lydia asked, from where she sat in her usual seat closer to the front of the room. ‘What kind of clothes should we wear?’ 

Formal or informal, Liam didn’t miss what she was actually asking, and he looked over at Theo next to him questioningly. They had only discussed it a little bit, a handful of times, but enough to know the answer by the look on Theo’s face. 

‘Something nice,’ the man said. ‘You can dress up, something semi-formal,’ and Lydia nodded satisfied; judging by her reaction, it had been the right answer. ‘And, eh, buy some presents for each other. It’s Christmas after all.’ 

Liam grinned, intending to follow that advice fully himself as well as he looked over at Theo, and from where she had taken Liam’s seat for the moment, Mrs. Martin stood up again. 

‘Okay,’ she said, her authoritative presence starting to flow around the room again. ‘Thank you, it sounds like you two have really combined your strong points and we can all expect a party to enjoy. Well done.’

With that, she took her spot in front of the room again, discussing the last few small things that needed to be said and motioning for them to sit down again. As he did, Liam couldn’t stop the proud feeling from swelling in his chest at her compliment that came rarely enough as it was, grinning widely, until Mrs. Martin declared the meeting over. 

Maybe she was right, he thought. Maybe he and Theo could really work well together. 

He hoped so. 

*********

‘So, do you know how to cook any of this stuff? Have you ever done this before?’ Theo asked as he tied up the apron, behind his back, and Liam couldn’t stop the sudden thought that he looked almost… _cute,_ the thought almost short-circuiting his brain. It didn’t come as a complete surprise, he and Theo clearly got along very well now that they’d gotten past their prejudices and their anger completely blinding them. But that hadn’t prepared him for this thought, that had suddenly hit him out of nowhere. 

It was the second time Theo had been invited to Liam’s home, and he found it even more amazing than the first, marvelled over how warm it was even more than before. Liam was really lucky, with his family and friends close and around, just a phone call away, and Theo had wondered how earth tones would look in his modern apartment. 

‘I can cook you know!’ Liam snapped him from his thoughts, almost offended at the question. ‘How do you think I’ve been surviving all these years?’ and Theo snorted. 

‘Noted,’ he remarked, smirking, though he could picture Liam surviving on ramen for three nights in a row, or ordering take-out instead. He’d seen the Chinese menu hanging on Liam’s fridge. ‘So which one should we start with?’

They turned, looking at the recipes for pigs-in-blankets, spinach pastries and Christmas cookies, among others, lying on Liam’s small kitchen table, and Theo looked over at Liam questioningly. 

‘That one,’ Liam pointed at the spinach pastries, looking up catching Theo’s gaze challengingly, a smirk just pulling at the corner of his lips, and once again his eyes were a fierce blue, like flames dancing in them reflecting Liam’s determination, and Theo was rooted to the spot, his heart skipping a beat. ‘You say you’re so good at them, I wanna see you prove it. Impress me.’ And Theo’s breath hitched, unable to take Liam’s words in the simple, joking way he’d probably meant them. 

‘Alright,’ it took him a moment to collect himself again, Liam staring up at him from behind, and he snatched the recipe from the table, whirling around on his feet. Shakily, he exhaled a breath, before breathing in deeply again and steeling himself. 

‘They’re pretty easy to make,’ he muttered. ‘You get the utensils? Then I’ll get the ingredients.’

Liam nodded, ‘On it!’ and Theo chuckled as he watched Liam go. He thought, it suddenly wasn’t hard to see Liam’s determination, the way he worked hard and didn’t stop until he got what he wanted, his perseverance and ability to bounce back no matter what hard things life threw at him. Theo was in awe. What he thought had been Liam fighting every single one of his attempts at achievements, was actually Liam making a better future for himself, and it had never been about him. He had never been so glad to see past his prejudices, to have his eyes opened and have things cleared up between them, and see what was right in front of him, the two of them not standing in each other’s way unnecessarily anymore. He could see it for what it was, and watch Liam turn from someone annoying he thought was attacking him for the hell of it into someone fighting for what he wanted. Having Liam as his friend wasn’t something he ever thought he’d have, but now that he did, and it felt so amazing to be on the other end of Liam’s kindness, making him feel warm and happy and more alive inside than he had felt in a long time, it wasn’t something he would wanna lose anymore. 

Once they had everything, spread out in a row on the kitchen counter, Liam looked towards Theo. ‘What now?’ And Theo pointed towards the recipe, sliding his finger down the different steps written on the paper. ‘Preheat the oven, and mix the spinach with the next five ingredients.’

Liam gave a firm nod, smiling and Theo’s heart picked up pace, and got to work. 

They worked in silence, next to each other, following down the recipe and knowing which step the other was up to without even having to speak it out loud, knowing what the other was doing with short stolen glances and their hearts warming every time they did. Theo thought he was having more fun now than he ever did cooking alone at home. 

‘You know,’ Theo said lightly at one point, his voice too casual for Liam to miss it and think nothing of it, think that it wouldn’t mean anything. ‘My sister taught me to make these, spinach pastries. That’s why I love them so much.’

And just like that, Liam’s heart dropped, his utensils clattering down on the counter with a bang, as he only gaped at the other man with a pained feeling in his heart. He had _not_ expected him to tell Liam things about his sister who passed away, seemingly so casually and out of nowhere, like they were making normal conversation when they knew it was anything but, for both of them. 

Liam didn’t know what to say, his head filled with a thick fog he couldn’t think past, his mouth dry, but somehow, the right words made it out of his mouth anyway. 

‘Was she… Did she get you into spinach too? Because I remember _not_ liking that as a kid, at all,’ thinking back on all the times he had to stay at the table after dinner, and not finishing eating his whole plate until after dark. 

Theo let out a quiet chuckle, not looking up from where he was making the pastries for the spinach to go in, his hands kneading the dough, but Liam didn’t miss the way his lips curled up in a smile ever so small. A spark of warmth ignited in his chest. ‘Somehow I was not the pickiest eater,’ Theo said, and Liam rolled his eyes half-heartedly. Of course he wasn’t. 

‘I don’t know, we cooked together more often,’ Theo went on quietly, his smile gone, his hands continuing on making the pastries, and suddenly Liam held his breath, not wanting to miss a single moment of Theo telling his stories, and he thought that if he stayed really still, more might still come. 

‘Tara loved cooking. It wasn’t that she wanted to become a professional chef, it was more of a hobby for her and her future was in graphic design, but she was the happiest when she was doing that.’ Theo’s voice was quiet, his gaze far away as he thought back on a happier time, and Liam’s heart ached for him. He took a small ball of the dough Theo had made and started kneading it into pastries, much like Theo had been doing before the past had decided to pay him a visit, to suppress the itch to reach over and cover Theo’s hand with his own, and keep his hands to himself. 

Never in a million years would he have thought Theo to talk to him so freely, about something that must’ve hurt him so deeply, like they’d been friends for years. But standing in the kitchen, talking relaxed despite the subject, Liam wouldn’t trade it for anything else. 

He looked up, starting to fill up his first pastry with the spinach mix they’d made. ‘I’m sorry, Theo,’ he said seriously, genuinely. From the story Theo had told about her, Tara sounded like an awesome person, one who would’ve taught her little brother many things that would make life easier, that the adults wouldn’t, and one that Liam would’ve wanted to meet. 

Theo looked back over at him, surprise written over his face, before it softened. ‘Thank you,’ voice full of genuine gratitude. It was said quietly, hanging between them but still well-meant with both their minds on the night Theo had cried against Liam, and it went unsaid that Theo didn’t have a lot of people in his life. The more Liam learnt about him, and as much Theo didn’t turn out to be the career-hungry workaholic that Liam thought he was, he wanted to be one of those people that Theo could be open with. 

They stayed in the kitchen for a long time, right until the baking of the cookies as they had turned the Saturday into a cooking day, and the heat of the constantly turned on oven spread around the room, warming it up even beyond a nice temperature. Liam couldn’t help but have gotten annoyed, it had gotten too much for him, and he’d pulled off his hoodie in a mood of extra frustration, hurling it onto a nearby chair. His shirt rose up a little, showing a small part of his waist, and Theo wished in that moment for Liam to keep his emotions better in check, so he wouldn’t get overwhelmingly frustrated and that didn’t happen. 

‘How much brown sugar do we need? To go into the cookies?’ Liam asked, already shooting a glance towards the recipe. 

‘Half a spoon,’ Theo replied calling loudly over his shoulder, where he continued to mix the rest into a bowl. 

Liam nodded firmly, doing what Theo said and adding the exact amount in the bowl Theo had in front of him. 

The cookies were almost ready. After it was mixed, all they needed to do was press the cookies out of the dough with the little cookie moulds, and sitting across the small kitchen table from each other, they could admit that they had fun. Theo giggled as Liam’s cookie dough stuck to the table, next to his fingers, and joked: ‘You should have added more flour to it, you idiot.’

‘I realize that,’ Liam responded dryly, holding up his unimpressed attitude for the whole of one moment before breaking, and bursting out laughing. Out of the bag with flour that still stood next to him, he grabbed a small handful of it, and threw it at Theo. ‘There’s your flour!’ his gaze caught by where it stuck to Theo’s shirt and laughing at, even harder when Theo stared down at it with wide, unhappy eyes and his eyebrows raised to his hairline. 

‘Thanks for that,’ he commented, unimpressed, and Liam cackled, throwing his head back. Despite his distraction though, laughter filling his whole body much like he had with his other friends sometimes and yet feeling completely different with Theo at the same time, he could pinpoint the exact moment something soft knocked against his chest. 

Looking down, a white stain of flour stuck to his grey shirt. And looking back up again, Theo sat smirking across from him, the evidence that he had thrown the flour still sticking to his fingertips in the form of white powder. 

‘Right back at ya,’ he grinned, looking proud of himself, and Liam’s mouth dropped, gaping at him. 

‘Oh, you’re on, Raeken,’ he challenged, making a grab for the flour bag just as Theo did, though he was faster, and made it snow inside as a small cloud of flour dawned on Theo. 

‘Any more and I’m gonna turn into the Yeti,’ Theo said after a moment’s pause, and Liam burst out laughing at that, throwing his head back clutching his stomach. He didn’t know why but the thought that was undeniably the best thing Theo had said to him yet, and Theo had spoken to him civilly these last few days a lot more than he had for four years before that. 

‘Seriously though,’ Theo interrupted his thoughts, Liam lifting his head and looking back over at him, ‘after this I may need to borrow your hoodie,’ and Liam was glad he was sitting down with the way that comment made him scare, because to him that was _not_ a thing that people who didn’t at least get along said to each other, and once again, he wondered when Theo had started to be able to talk to him so freely. ‘Come on for now though, the cookies can go in the oven,’ Theo continued, as if he had not noticed Liam’s inner storm. 

Liam’s mouth was dry as he nodded and stood up, standing around by his chair not knowing what to do for a moment, something inside of him twisting and fluttering as Theo looked over at him and smiled over his shoulder at him, taking the tray with cookies from the table. 

‘Are you gonna help?’ he chuckled, with no heat whatsoever behind his words. 

At the words, Liam’s brain started working again, the same sudden way it had stopped, and he scrambled to walk up to Theo and catch up with him, to help him. Hurriedly, he started putting things away and wiping surfaces clean, his heart racing inside his chest, behind him he could hear Theo chuckle at the speed with which he was cleaning up and making a faint comment about how _‘he had never seen Liam working so effective’_ and it did not help his racing heart. 

With heated cheeks, Liam put his utensils in the dishwasher and stuffed his ingredients away in his kitchen cupboards, until he turned around to grab the next thing, and found that his kitchen was too small and bumped right into Theo, their chests touching, where the man still stood by the oven, just closing up the door. 

Liam flushed, his mouth running dry, catching Theo’s gaze not letting go, and staring into his eyes. 

Theo wasn’t doing much different, his eyes blown wide with shock as he stared into Liam’s, and shit, _did they really get any bluer_ , and Liam’s heart stuttered, for a moment he thought it might actually permanently stop beating as Theo’s eyes dropped down to his lips for a second, before a smirk started curling at the man’s lips. ‘Hi there.’ 

And Liam’s throat closed up, at the look on Theo’s face, curious and implying something at the same time, and relief flooded through Liam as well at the words he spoke, bringing back the easy mood of banter between them. ‘Hi there,’ taking a step back, before another feeling decided to crash over him right then and there, following Theo’s lead and letting his eyes drop down for only the shortest of seconds, and… 

Shit. 

_Oh, shit._

*********

‘It feels so weird coming here when everything’s closed up and dark.’

‘Sssh, Liam, it’s fine, but please tell me you brought all the decorations.’

Their voices came out whispered in the dark, hushed as if they were doing something they were not allowed, despite the fact they had a key and worked here and were allowed in to decorate the place the night before the party. 

Theo flipped on the switch, and suddenly the office was flooded in the light again, all their work spaces and the Christmas tree that stood already in the corner revealed. 

Behind him, Liam rolled his eyes, the straps of the grocery bag he held cutting in his hand. ‘Yes I do, Theodore, when are you finally gonna trust me with something? I can do things you know.’

Theo turned, his eyebrows raised looking unimpressed, before his face softened into a small smile. ‘Good. I know you can. And don’t call me Theodore. I’m serious!’ his voice coming out louder than before as Liam snorted. Theo felt a bit bad about mistrusting Liam’s capabilities, old habits died hard he guessed, but he would work harder to overcome that. Liam had proven that he was good over and over again, Theo wasn’t shy to admit that he was impressed with all that Liam did and had shown him he could, and he deserved at least that. 

With a breath spilling from his lips, Liam walked over to him, putting the grocery bag with decorations down next to him. ‘So,’ looking over at Theo questioningly, catching the other’s gorgeous green eyes even under the unflattering ceiling lights. ‘Where should we start?’

They stayed silent for a moment, Theo staring at him holding each other’s gazes tightly and Liam could swear that it got hotter in here, pulling at his collar nervously, before Theo burst out laughing and snorted. 

A big, all-consuming feeling of relief washed over Liam, lifting a weight from his shoulders, happy that they were back in familiar territory again for a little while longer. 

He at least knew what to do with that. 

‘How about we see what we have again first?’ Theo suggested, lifting the grocery bag bringing it over to the work desks, and Liam’s eyes widened at Theo’s muscles flexing under his hoodie, his gaze following the other man closely, watching him his heart stuttering, and he brushed the feeling right off, pushing it to the back of his mind, snapping back into reality. He was here to help after all. 

‘Ah, there we have it,’ Theo mumbled as Liam marched up to him, catching up with him at the table, not having looked up or back over his shoulder, and he pulled out the first silver and golden tinsel. ‘Nicely matching our Christmas tree,’ and Liam nodded. 

That was the best idea Theo’d had, in the coffee shop. 

As more and more decorations began to make it out of the bag, Liam watching with curious eyes, he couldn’t help but grin, and snorted. ‘You realize this is actually gonna look a little bit like the Winter Wonderland that you so hated, right?’ nudging Theo’s side with a laugh, putting up an innocent face as the other man looked at him unimpressed before he broke, laughing back in response. ‘Just a little bit,’ he smirked, downplaying it. 

‘I know,’ Theo said, holding his gaze, seriously, and Liam felt his smile slip from his face as his heart started to pound in his chest. ‘Maybe I don’t hate it all that much after all.’

Oh. 

_Oh._

Liam’s mouth ran dry, unable to tear his gaze away, and Theo’s green eyes were wide, sparkling, a suggestion written all in them that he couldn’t say it out loud quite just yet. Liam licked his lips, flexing his hands by his sides, before something clicked inside of him, and he snapped back into reality. 

‘Uh…’ He coughed, clearing his throat tearing his gaze away, and wiping his hands on his jeans. ‘Uh, maybe we should just… Do this, first.’

Next to him, he heard Theo do the same, turning away with a jolt and clearing his throat. ‘Yeah!’ his breath stuttering for only a second after he realized how loud he’d been. ‘Yeah, for sure!’

With that, they grabbed the tinsel to start with, silver for Liam and gold for Theo, and they went to work with decorating different areas of the office in silence. 

It pressed heavily on Liam, the silence not something he was used to with Theo anymore and it rang in his ears, as silence wasn’t something he could work well with in the first place, and even less so. It irritated him, and he grit his teeth, trying to grin and bear it before his agitation spilled over and he gave up. 

‘Theo?’ he started urgently, looking over his shoulder. ‘Can we just put on some music?’

The other man looked back at the call of his name, amusement starting to shine in his eyes. ‘Sure!’ he grinned, leaving his tinsel where it was hanging from the wall and grabbed his phone from the desk, scrolling through a playlist. Soon, the first tones of _Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas_ filled the room, and Theo shot Liam a look with twinkling eyes, before Liam turned back smiling faintly to himself, his cheeks coloring red.

That was better, he thought. 

They continued to decorate, the song softly playing in the background, and the joy for the activity returned to Liam, a warm happiness filling his whole body as he held onto the short ladder Theo was currently standing on, trying to hang up the snowflakes they had bought from the ceiling. 

‘You better hold onto that tightly, if I fall and break my neck I’m gonna kill you!’ Theo shouted, fumbling with the little thread on the snowflake, and Liam cackled, throwing his head back. 

‘Well, hurry up then! The sooner you can get back down the better, and we have more to do!’

‘Give me the tape!’

Laughing, Liam ran back to the table, passing him the tape before holding back onto the ladder, wobbling dangerously with the impact of the way Liam grabbed onto it, and Theo glared down at him. 

‘You’re a threat to society,’ and Liam shot him a grin, looking up proudly, as if he had received the greatest compliment he could’ve been given. 

With eyes narrowed in concentration, Theo looked back to the ceiling, fumbling with the thread and a piece of tape he pulled off, hanging the snowflake from the ceiling clumsily. For a moment, they waited to see if the snowflake would still fall down, and when it didn’t, they erupted in cheers, Theo leaning down for a high-five and happiness flooded through Liam. 

‘You did it!’ and Theo climbed back down the ladder slowly, steadily, holding onto it tightly. ‘Yeah!’ he called with a smile, returning Liam’s high five, unable to wipe the grin off his face even as he spoke up again. ‘But I’m never climbing up that ladder again though. I don’t trust you with it,’ and he earned himself a push against the shoulder from Liam and offended _‘Hey!’_

Worth it, Theo thought snickering to himself. 

And so, from then on for the rest of the snowflakes, they’d agreed that Liam would climb on the ladder, and they moved around the room fast, with Liam not having as much trouble to untangle the threads on the snowflakes and sticking them to the ceiling with the tape. 

Down where he stood on the ground, Theo actually looked _proud_ of him, and happy with how fast and efficient they worked, the smooth sailing with which they made their way around the room. 

They moved the ladder to different spots around the room, and soon enough, they were out of snowflakes as they dangled all from the ceiling, reflecting the last light of the sun setting outside with their glittering white sparkles. 

It was beautiful, casting faint snowflake shaped shadows onto the walls, and a breath escaped Liam in awe. _Wow._

‘Okay,’ he panted, climbing down the ladder, holding on steadily as it wobbled slightly beneath his hands, gripping it tightly and exaggeratedly, and as Theo snickered softly down where he was waiting for him, Liam finally understood for the first time what it was like on the ladder and why Theo hadn’t wanted to climb on it anymore. ‘What’s next?’ 

‘You really have made this look good, Li,’ Theo responded warmly, softly, where he stood beside him again, and Liam could feel his cheeks warm up, his stomach fluttering pleasantly and wildly, unable to stop the smile he sent Theo’s way, happy when he got one in return. 

Theo seemed to have smiled a hundred times more in the last few days than ever in the years they’d known each other before then, and though something inside Liam knew what the reason for that was, he didn’t say it out loud just yet. 

‘Thanks!’

‘So, the white tinsel next?’ Theo continued upbeat, and Liam nodded grinning, following Theo’s way over the grocery bag. ‘Sounds like a plan!’

They did, and Theo pulled out the long garland of white tinsel next, handing over a few to Liam and taking the rest for himself. They walked apart, in different directions to hang up the tinsel, this time still with the Christmas music playing in the background - Liam recognized Kelly Clarkson enthusiastically singing _Underneath The Tree_ \- and the nervousness stayed away from him, this time pushed away by the happiness that filled his whole body and left no room for it. Liam felt like he was floating, like he was sitting on cloud nine constantly and he couldn’t wipe the stupid grin off of his face, but he didn’t mind. He had never had so much fun decorating, not even his own place with Mason and Corey, and he knew the cause of it was standing right behind him, on the other side of the room. 

He didn’t wanna leave, didn’t want this feeling to go away, and at the same time, he couldn’t wait until the party tomorrow, his heart bouncing wildly inside his chest. His grin was starting to hurt his cheeks, but who cared about that anyway?

It was half an hour later when the office was mostly decorated to the way they had envisioned, gold and silver tinsel hanging from the walls where Liam and Theo had put it up, lovely complemented by the white one they had finished hanging up later, snowflakes dangling from the ceiling and covering their coworkers’ desks, all matching the gold and silver themed Christmas tree in the corner of course, and candles already in their place to be lit at the party tomorrow. It had all been given the finishing touch by the string of twinkling Christmas lights that hung all around the room, lighting up the office more than Liam would’ve thought possible. The only problem with them was that they were unpredictable, going out and turning off at the most unexpected of times. They had yet to find what the problem was. 

Liam sighed happily, grinning looking at their handiwork proudly with a warm feeling swirling through his stomach, the back of his hand just brushing against Theo’s where the man stood beside him. 

‘It looks perfect…’ 

And Theo stayed silent, looking at him, at the side of his face, and catching Liam’s gaze where he saw him from the corner of his eye. ‘It does, doesn’t it?’ his voice had never come out so warm, where they stood in the office surrounded by everything that made it look like paradise, decorations glittering and shining brightly around them reflecting on their faces, and Liam’s breath stuttered, a smile he couldn’t help tugging at his lips. 

‘Just like the tree, just like you had suggested…’ Thinking back on their visit to the coffee shop. 

Theo smiled, happily and warmly, looking at him. ‘You’ll bring the food tomorrow morning right? Setting it up a little while before the party starts?’ and Liam nodded, smiling back warmly. They’d agreed on that some time ago, since the food they’d cooked had been left in the fridge in Liam’s apartment. It was just easier that way. 

Theo nodded, smiling, and his hand slid past Liam’s in a way that left Liam to wonder whether it was a hundred percent accidentally, as Theo walked forward. ‘I’m gonna check on the lights one more time, see if I can find what it is.’

‘Okay.’ With that, Theo left, and Liam was left to wander on his own. He stared off into the direction Theo had gone off, sighing, and thought that it was no wonder that Theo had taken the task of fixing the light strings upon himself. Over the last few days it had become clear that there wasn’t a lot that Theo couldn’t do, he had a pretty wide range of abilities, apparently now with technical issues too, and Liam was impressed. 

Having nothing left to do about the decorations anymore, everything looking perfectly into place, Liam wandered forward, checking the grocery bag they were taking back home with them again later, and his eyes widened. 

‘Hey Theo!’ he called out loudly, snickering as the muffled response of a questioning _‘Yeah!?’_ came his way. ‘There is still one string of tinsel left!’ he called over his shoulder and he chuckled at Theo quietly cursing, stumbling away from wherever the lights had been plugged in with a problem that was clearly still unfixed, and the man walked over to him with a growing smile on his face. 

‘Huh,’ he stated, looking inside the bag. ‘Yeah, there is. Guess we’ll be taking that home as well.’ He didn’t see any room for it anymore. The whole place was showered in white, silver and gold decorations, reflecting onto the walls and resembling a Christmas paradise for Theo, as it warmed his heart. 

But of course, as he should’ve known and his luck would have it, Liam Dunbar had different plans. 

‘Maybe,’ and Theo should’ve known that Liam was up to no good with the way his eyes twinkled mischievously. ‘Or we could do… This!’ And with that, Liam wrapped the tinsel around Theo’s neck, lightning quickly before he could do anything to stop, and Liam grinned widely, wildly amused. ‘Way to look festive yourself, Raeken,’ he smirked, laughing a little too hard about his own jokes, and Theo rolled his eyes. 

‘I’m thinking I really meant what I said before now,’ he commented dryly. ‘You’re a threat to society,’ and took the tinsel off again. 

Liam sighed, rolling his eyes though they twinkled still, and he wiggled his eyebrows as he held the string of tinsel back out to Theo. ‘Come on…!’ he suggested playfully, eyes sparkling under the lights. 

And though it warmed Theo on the inside seeing Liam like that, settling something deeply inside of him beneath his skin, he shook his head, crossing his arms. ‘No.’ 

‘Come on! A little bit of holiday cheer…’ Liam smirked, holding out his arms.

‘Liam, no!’ Theo ducked under Liam’s arm, taking in a deep breath, not knowing if he was irritated or amused, somehow feeling both of it at the same time and he couldn’t stop his lips from curling up into a smile. No one had been silly like this with him in a long time, and though he had told Liam to stop and it made him opposed to it that he didn’t, Liam did now, and it made Theo happy in a way he hadn’t known for a long while, made him loosen up in a different way. ‘Not if you can’t find me!’ he made his decision.

‘Shouldn’t be too hard,’ Liam snickered to himself, following after Theo, with the tinsel in his hands. While Theo had surprised him, and had been unexpectedly more into the holiday season than he thought, he thought the other man had still been acting a little bit too much like a Scrooge, and he felt he should do something about that. The office wasn’t too big, and Liam could see where Theo had gone off to, standing around the corner by the Christmas tree where the man held back his laughter. 

Liam giggled, walking closer, fully intending to reach his goal and reach Theo. 

Unfortunately, then, Liam’s shoelaces decided to fuck with him as he stepped on one of them, the mood changing abruptly like a switch had been flipped and dread gathered in his stomach, taking him by surprise as he stumbled and tripped forward, falling, and he could still hear Theo’s voice, a second too late, ringing in his ears. ‘Liam, watch out, the Christmas tree!’ 

Liam sucked in a sharp breath, tumbling forward seeing the Christmas tree closer and closer, falling forward already bracing himself, as images of him crashing into it and toppling over, lying on the floor between the broken decorations and snapped twigs and getting yelled at by Mrs. Martin flashed through his mind, when suddenly two strong arms wrapped around his middle, catching him. And Liam felt like he was frozen, something pressing heavily on his chest unable to breathe for the whole of two moments. 

Then a voice spoke into his ear, hot breath spilling over his skin that made Liam’s insides twist and melt in a way he would’ve never pictured, and said: ‘Ssh, it’s okay. I’ve got you, nothing happened. It’s okay.’ 

And Liam didn’t know where he would be, if it wasn’t for Theo. Probably, lying on the ground along with the office Christmas tree, in the exact way his mind just showed him that he would, hopelessly defeated with no idea how to clean it up and utterly embarrassed at how disappointed Mrs. Martin was going to be in him and he had to do his walk of shame around the office. 

Theo had prevented all of that. 

Liam gasped, sucking in a sharp breath as he took in how close that was to have gone horribly wrong and how it would’ve been his fault, turning his head and noticing how close Theo’s face was to his. His mouth ran dry, and all he could think to say was one thing, wrapping the tinsel around Theo’s neck with trembling hands and a shaky breath. In a weird way, it grounded him, made him think of something else and helped ease some of the guilt had he not been so lucky. 

‘I got you…’ 

Theo breathed, staring at him with eyes blown wide, his gaze not breaking Liam’s as shock was written all over it. ‘Yeah, you did…’ his arms never leaving Liam’s waist, and Liam couldn’t help but feel like Theo was talking about far more than just the tinsel. 

Then Theo’s lips were on his, swooping in pressing together firmly, taking Liam by surprise, and Liam’s eyes widened with shock for all of two seconds before he gave in, his arms wrapping slowly around Theo’s neck, a smile forming on his lips, against Theo’s. 

Theo’s lips were soft against his, moving quickly stealing every last one of Liam’s breaths away and he gasped, wrapping his arms around Theo’s neck tugging him closer hungrily as he silently begged for more. But underneath that, he could feel how soft they were, how they moved and fit Liam’s lips exactly right and how they tasted fresh, slightly like the peppermint candies he’d seen Theo eat and knew the other man liked. 

Hot breath spilled over each other’s lips, their mouths open both begging quietly for more, and Theo gasped, opening his eyes shortly only to check if this was okay with Liam for just a moment, and when he wasn’t met with any resistance, he swooped in to tug Liam closer again as if he couldn’t possibly have him close enough. 

And maybe he couldn’t. Liam wasn’t so sure that he was doing any better. 

Hungrily, gasping for air, Liam let his hands wander up, get tangled in Theo’s hair and not noticing where he messed up, pressing closer, _closer_ against Theo as he honestly felt he couldn’t ever have enough of him, tongue swooping over Theo’s lips silently asking for permission, his tongue gently touching Theo’s. Liam could barely contain the big, overwhelming, all-consuming feeling of relief of having this washing over him, as if he’d wanted this for too long and now he finally had it, and something settled deep inside of him as he wouldn’t just let this go again. 

He didn’t know why he thought he had been relieved before, whenever they’d stared at each other and nothing had followed that, when he’d felt more relieved with their bickering banter between them, when now all that came out of his mouth were breaths of pure relief, and something clicked inside of him. A longing Liam hadn’t realized had been building inside of him, and all he wanted was to have more of this, and not have it stop. 

‘Liam…’ Theo murmured against his lips, ever so quietly it was almost inaudible, though Liam still heard him loud and clear, and something in stomach swooped at the thought that Theo wanted the same as him. He smiled, leaning in pressing a peck against Theo’s lips, Theo tugging him closer again, right hand starting to slip under his shirt. ‘I’m thinking we should hang up some mistletoe in the copy room for tomorrow, just in case,’ Theo muttered, and Liam huffed out a laugh, before Theo was kissing him hungrily again. 

Unfortunately, of course, they weren’t so lucky as to be allowed to keep having this, the universe decided to fuck with them and screw them over as a familiar female voice called out their names by the entrances, the growing sound of heels on carpet betraying someone walking closer. 

Gasping, startled back into real life violently with the fear of almost being caught settling painfully low in their stomach, they flew apart, eyes blown wide and faces completely open and honest with shock. Hearts pounding and their lips kiss-swollen, staring at each other trying to make sense of it all, as if the other held all the answers. Liam didn’t even have time to fathom _what the hell_ just happened and graze his fingers over his lips, where the ghost of Theo’s kiss still lingered, before he was needed back into reality again. 

‘Theo!? Liam!?’ Mrs. Martin’s voice called, ‘are you in here!?’ and they met each other’s gazes panickedly, wondering how they should possibly cover up what they had been doing, and would have continued to do, had she not walked in here. 

‘ _Shit!_ ’ Theo hissed, a scream and a whisper at the same time that would’ve amused Liam to no end had the circumstances been different, and they took each other in, hands pulling hurriedly at the hems of their shirts to straighten them out, brushing through their hair in a rushed panicked attempt to hide what had happened. As they looked over at each other, their faces were flushed, their lips swollen and eyes wide, and Liam’s heart pounded against his chest as he could only hope Mrs. Martin wouldn’t notice. 

‘Ah, there you are,’ their boss said as she stepped through the glass doors that lead to the office, her eyes lit up with relief upon spotting them. ‘I thought I’d check in to see what the progress is,’ she explained, stepping further into the office. 

Liam’s heart raced, his breath spilling out shallow and quick, panting, and he wished it wasn’t so hot in here, pulling frantically at his collar. _Was this what it felt like to die?_

Next to him, he heard Theo tapping his foot, catching his attention, and the man shot him a warning glare. In all honesty, Liam didn’t know how he even looked so collected after having been almost caught with what they had. 

‘Hmm, this is looking wonderful, guys,’ Mrs. Martin inspected with an approving smile, taking in all the direction, and if Liam didn’t know any better, he would say she was almost _proud_ , a glint in her eye. ‘You really have done well, the color scheme works perfectly,’ just as the Christmas string lights went out again with a buzz. Liam suppressed a groan, and Mrs. Martin turned. ‘Though I trust you’ll still take care of that?’ 

Liam nodded, and Mrs. Martin smiled satisfied, having heard the answer she wanted. ‘Good.’ She turned. ‘Though I actually came to talk to Theo too,’ nodding at him. 

When Liam looked over at Theo, the other’s face was shocked, eyes wide, not having expected that. And neither had Liam. He always knew Theo was Mrs. Martin’s favorite, it was stupid for a boss to have a favorite employee, like how a teacher would have a favorite student, but there they were. But talking work? At night, the day before the Christmas party? Really? What could possibly be so important, that it had to be now, that it couldn’t wait until work started again?

‘...Okay,’ Theo said then, nodding, mostly collected himself again and Liam was starting to follow. Theo gave a nod as Mrs. Martin smiled satisfied and walked after her, shooting Liam an apologetic look silently telling him that he would be back later, and Liam’s stomach swooped as he thought about just what that meant, a smile playing at his lips at what they could continue if he did, and then he was left alone. 

A soft sigh escaped Liam, looking around, before remembering he’d promised to fix the lights, and started to make his way to where they were plugged in. Though he knew, if Theo hadn’t even been able to do it, he had no idea how he was supposed to do it. He knew nothing about the technical stuff. 

Chuckling, pulling the lights in and out a few times and watching them fuzz out again every time he did, Liam threw the string aside, leaving it for what it was and scrambling up and going off to go find Theo. 

He _liked_ Theo, he realized with a pleasant jolt. He really did, and after that kiss that set his insides on fire, Theo’s lips soft against his, he wanted the other man near again as soon as possible. 

Grinning, he walked down the barely lit hallway with lights she must have turned on on her way down here up to Mrs. Martin’s office, where he knew they would be, when loose pieces of broken sentences and words floated outside, reaching his ears. 

‘...worked hard for the promotion, Theo, these past few weeks. You’ve earned it, why…?’

They were just words. They didn’t mean anything. Liam told himself that, and yet, as he listened in, he couldn’t hear the rest of it, where his blood started to boil beneath his skin. 

Red hot anger started to rise inside of him, blurring his vision thrumming through his veins, and he turned, his jaw clenched, quivering, blood rushing through his ears and his fists clenched so tightly his knuckles turned white as the words rang in his ears. They hurt, the words, they stung in his chest, overwhelmingly, but above all, they offered him a painful, throbbing sort of clarity that he hadn’t had for days now, making him see everything that more clearly and letting all the puzzle pieces fall together for him, now matter how painful. He growled, a dark cloud settled over his head making it rain down on him, and a bitter darkness settled in his stomach, making a hole inside of him and growing, taking over.

_Theo had lied to him._ Theo had _lied_ to him for days and made him believe he liked him too, he’d known the truth the entire time they were working together. The promotion was never up for debate, it had been Theo’s all along, just like it made sense and just like Liam should have known. He couldn’t believe he had fallen for it too, Theo had fooled him and made him believe they had something good going, when it was actually all for nothing. Liam wanted to laugh at it, hysterically, as it didn’t deviate from Theo’s work habits and he got what he wanted, reached his perfect goal. He always wanted the best, never satisfied with anything less than that. He thought he could have it all, claim the promotion before Liam could even get close to it and realize it was gone. But Liam would show him, that he wasn’t just going to be okay with that. 

With that, the grim thought that he would let Theo have it, he stomped off, glowering, glaring at everything in his path, back to the main room. 

*********

Theo had a smile stuck to his lips, seemingly permanently, as he made his way back to the main room, laughing satisfied to himself as he turned off the lights again behind him. 

He couldn’t believe what had happened in there, after Mrs. Martin had gone again, couldn’t believe what he was doing and how his life was getting so much better and going so much smoother than ever before, and he would be the stupidest person to let it all slip through his fingers now. And it was all partly because of…

‘You fixed the lights!’ he burst out, blurting, happily, returning to the main room and seeing the other man standing between the sparkling lights, almost just a silhouette with how they twinkled and flickered in gold around him. 

Liam had his back to him, seemingly standing and checking the lights for the last time to be sure. ‘Yeah.’

Theo grinned, repressing the urge to simply walk up to him and turn him around, press him up against the wall and kiss him silly. He hadn’t felt as good as that in a long time, as he was doing that. But as he walked up to the desk, grabbing his bag, something heavy settled low in his gut, something ice cold that told him something was wrong, and he looked over at Liam, frown deepening on his face. ‘Are you okay?’

At the words, Liam whirled around, a glare settled on his face his eyes darkened. ‘Something wrong? Why would you think something was wrong?’ he snarled, and he hadn’t meant for the words to snap out like that, but now that they’d started, he couldn’t stop the stream of words from pouring out of his mouth. ‘I only overheard you and Mrs. Martin, telling you that you had earned the promotion, but there is nothing wrong there, right!? Everything is perfectly normal there, right!?’ 

Theo gaped at him, even as he spat out the words with his chest rising and falling quickly, driven by the anger thrumming through his veins, Liam could see the way Theo paled and that basically told him everything he needed to know, confirmed his suspicions. Underneath it all, Liam had still had a flicker of hope that he was wrong, that he misheard or misunderstood, but the look on Theo’s face killed that stone dead, and he got a twisted kind of satisfaction out of seeing Theo fiddling like that. 

‘What? I… No, Liam, that’s not…’ Theo rushed to say, stuttering to find the right words and explain, and Liam cut him off with a snort, angrily, and made Theo fall silent as if he’d been slapped. 

‘How long have you known?’ Liam asked him once he had, his face unreadable, he couldn’t help the ice dripping from his voice and letting Theo know he tolerated anything other than the truth. ‘How long have you had it? Couple days? Couple weeks? What, Theo?’

‘Not long!’ Theo snapped back, sounding exasperated and growing irritated himself, his eyes darkening. ‘Really, she just told me now, in her office! I didn’t know before!’ And Liam narrowed his eyes, tilting his head trying to decide whether he could believe Theo, searching his face for any signs of a lie. The hurt for being left out turning into anger, unable to stop the words from spilling out his mouth. 

‘You know, this is classic you!’ his jaw quivering with how tight it was clenched. ‘Always busy playing the teacher’s pet, always trailing after Mrs. Martin! All you care about is getting to the top, climbing the ladder and maintaining your perfect reputation, no matter who gets stepped on!’

Even as he spat out the words, Liam knew that he was going too far by attacking Theo’s reasoning after he’d opened up to him about it, that it was below the belt and well on his way of destroying the fragile thing they’d built. The way Theo’s eyes darkened were just proof of that, and the small flicker of regret Liam felt was quickly stomped on by his rising anger, the way his chest rose and fell rapidly. 

‘That is not true,’ Theo pressed out, his voice low. ‘You know that’s not true, I’ve told you perfectly well… You don’t get it, that’s not the whole story!’

‘What is the whole story then!? Please, tell me!’

‘I _told_ you!’ Theo shot back, flames dancing in his eyes. ‘I didn’t know, she only told me now in her office!’ and Liam let out an angry snort, laughing dryly and humorlessly. 

‘Believe that if it suits you, Theo. It’s whatever. It still fits you perfectly, always perfect, always trying to reach for more.’ With dark eyes, something burning sharply in his chest, Liam looked over at Theo. ‘You know, I thought this was good! I thought this was different, I thought _we_ were different!’ 

‘We are!’ Theo screamed back at him, a hurt look dawning on his face, but Liam let out a breath, spinning on his feet. ‘It’s whatever, Theo, you’ve made yourself clear. Only one thing is ever gonna be important to you! But whatever. I guess I’ll see if you decided it’s worth it to you to show up at the party tomorrow.’

With that, he turned, huffing, and walked out of there, grabbing his bags on the way out. 

‘Liam!’ Theo yelled after him, ‘Liam, wait!’ but there was no sign of life from the other man anymore, no sound of him having heard it and coming back. With tears burning in his eyes, shaking his head, Theo stared off in the direction Liam had walked off to. He couldn’t believe it. 

Liam had helped him, made him see some things in a different light, for so long his life had just dragged on, dull, and the days had all started to blend together as one, long, endless day. With Liam, it was so alive, he’d helped him and made something click in Theo, made him see that everything didn’t have to be perfect and he was enough for the people that truly cared for him regardless. He couldn’t believe Liam would talk to him like that, and would just walk away like that. After everything, he didn’t want to lose it, _couldn’t lose it_ , he needed him as Liam had set him free, and the man leaving sent Theo’s world crashing down again, everything he had gotten to know over the past two weeks. 

The man’s words stung, sharply, in his chest, and all he could think of was Mrs. Martin telling him that he got the promotion. Suddenly, it seemed so trivial, something he wouldn’t want to trade this thing with Liam for, or choose between. 

With that, the thought hurting in his mind and his hands shaking as he grabbed his back, he turned to leave, loud thoughts filling his mind and wishing he could do tonight all over again. 

*********

Liam stood to the side, nursing a glass of wine as he watched the party play out before him, all his colleagues glowing under the beautiful decorations they’d hung up and as agreed he’d brought the snacks in a little before the party started, but instead he himself felt nothing. 

The events from the night before seemed to have been burned permanently into his mind, Theo’s voice, his statements, _‘No, Liam, you don’t get it, that’s not the whole story!’_ fixed in the back of his mind, and how could he forget, when he had felt so wonderful all evening and then everything had turned sour so quickly the next moment? He felt sick, his anger for Theo resurfacing seemingly every moment that he stood there and never leaving him alone again, and he pressed his lips together in a tight thin line as his coworkers shot him concerned looks. 

The party was perfect. Of course it was, they’d spent a long time preparing for it. But Liam wished he was anywhere else. 

Because besides the anger, burning inside of him, there was something else as well. Underneath the anger, for Theo holding back that he had the promotion already and eating him up from the inside, there was guilt, sadness, _regret_ , making him feel almost sick with the way he had screamed at Theo so insistently and going below the belt with bringing up Theo’s reasoning for taking all the projects when he had _trusted_ Liam with that the most, and on top of that not even giving him the chance to hear him out. 

What was he _thinking_? Thinking back on it, it was evident that Liam had been acting out of too much emotion, and though he had every right to be angry, he knew he did, he now wished he had listened a little better to Theo, at least let the man finish his sentences and not attack him where he knew it’d hurt the most. 

Because despite his anger at Theo for having _lied_ to him, and having claimed the promotion long ago without anyone letting him know, the wandering thought that he somehow missed or misunderstood something still lingered in the back of Liam’s mind, his hand squeezed tight around his wine glass and his eyes hyper fixated on the empty spot by his side that Theo had come to fill up. 

Over the past few days he had been there constantly, as they got past their ideas they had of each other and slowly clicked and fell into place beside each other, as if it was normal and had always been that way. Now that he wasn’t, Liam missed him. 

He had been getting so used to Theo just taking up that space beside him without even knowing it, being there, that it felt weird and if something was missing when he wasn’t. Liam didn’t think it would change back again anytime so soon, that it felt strange without it as he hadn’t thought that he’d be here like this again. 

Despite himself, anger never leaving the pit of his stomach, he wondered what Theo was up to, and how he celebrated the holidays in his own way, and he pushed the thought away, glowering, the anger flaring up in his stomach again at the thought of Theo. His green eyes dark in Liam’s mind, as he tried to defend himself from taking the promotion and explain, and Liam couldn’t help but wonder what the point was of seeing the gorgeous result of their party organizing when the most important person and his co-organizer wasn’t here to see it with him.

He squeezed his hand tighter around his glass again, his knuckles turning white, lost in his thoughts in a way that almost caused him to miss someone walking up to him, talking to him. 

‘...iam? Liam? Are you okay?’

Liam jumped up, snapping back into reality, and the face of Lydia Martin slowly came into view, her concerned question reaching his ears. 

‘Yeah fine,’ Liam pressed out, almost like a growl, and Lydia’s frown deepened, not frightened of him but unimpressed, and she looked like she didn’t believe him. Liam didn’t know why he thought he could fool her. 

‘He’ll be here,’ she said, placing her hand on Liam’s arm, and though Liam coughed, he wasn’t surprised she could see right through him and know exactly what was bothering him. Something settled inside of him though he didn’t know whether to be reassured or irritated that she could read people so well and knew what to say. ‘He has to be, it’s rude not to host the party you organized,’ and a joking smile made its way across her lips. ‘Now come on, you better come and join the party.’

With that, she turned walking away again, leaving the choice up to Liam regardless of what she said before, having made her previous request sound like a command, which Liam was eternally grateful for. 

He sighed, taking a sip from his wine and staying exactly in his little corner of hurt, anger, disappointment and pity, where he could wallow in it and no one would bother him. He watched as the party continued before him, and a proud feeling wormed its way past the negative ones for all he’d achieved here, showing its face temporarily before he pushed it down again, and a long, deep sigh escaped him. He pretended he didn’t see people looking at him, shooting him short concerned glances, instead hid behind his wine glass and took another sip. Relying on getting tipsy to get through this. 

He was so ready for this whole thing to be over, the realization hit him suddenly. A dark cloud settled over him and he was sure it was showing on his face as well, glaring around the room. He forced on a smile whenever Mason and Corey, or Scott, came to talk to him, and Mrs. Martin walked up to him to compliment him about the organization quietly, but it slipped from his face as soon as it came again, once they left him alone again. 

He knew things couldn’t actually get much worse an hour and a half later, though, they had reached their low point, when a buzzing sound reached Liam’s ears. He had only just time to think, that’s not good, when a short circuit made him jump and the Christmas lights, that they’d hung up all over the place, went out with a snap all at once, leaving the office feeling cold without its warm glow from the lights. 

Liam’s breath hitched, dread gathering in his stomach, his eyes burning, and suddenly he felt like screaming, just walking away from this, driving home and crawling under the blankets at home. Why couldn’t things just ever go smoothly, like he wanted them to? 

Why did things like this always have to happen when he felt least up to it, when he already felt low, a feeling of defeat settling over him and he wished for someone to just help him. 

_Help him._

‘Liam!’ Malia’s voice called out to him, snapping him from his thoughts, and he whipped his head up at her, shivering. It was clear the room didn’t look the same without the Christmas lights, colder, without them reflecting onto the walls and making everything look golden. He racked his brain, trying to remember how Theo had fixed them the night before, but all he could think of was him trying to do it too, and failing. ‘It doesn’t matter,’ she said, knowing where his thoughts had taken him. ‘There are still batteries in the storage cupboard, if that might help. Or spare lights, if you think that’s better.’

Liam bit his lip, squeezing his eyes shut for a moment, going over the options and remembering with anger flaring up in his stomach again how smug and satisfied Theo had looked the night before when he’d made them work. The feeling of defeat was back with the thought, opening his eyes again, shrugging waving his hand submissively. ‘I’ll go take a look in a moment,’ he pressed out, the words leaving a bitter taste on his tongue, blinking back the threat of tears starting to burn at the back of his eyes. ‘Or otherwise you can just… Leave them off,’ defeat sounding through his voice, and Malia shot him a questioning look. 

The party didn’t stop without them, after all. And it didn’t even really feel like Christmas, his usual favorite season, to begin with. 

Malia shot him a glance, a funny look with which she considered him and opened her mouth, ready to start saying something that would be considered supportive in her own way, when something clicked behind her. It was so sudden, causing Liam to jump, before the room was flooded in Christmas light again, gold, almost blinding, before Liam could focus again. 

When he did, he could feel his heart drop into his stomach, both hope and dread gathering in his stomach and his heart skipping a beat in his chest, as he watched the familiar figure walk out from behind the table, across the room. 

Dressed up in a nice black suit, white blouse and black tie, always dressed to the nines, Liam recognized him without trouble, watching, gaping and frozen as Theo walked closer, and suddenly, all his confusion, all his hurt and regret and anger from betrayal from the night before came crashing back down on him. _Theo had taken your promotion, he’d had it for weeks and lied to you and he didn’t tell you!_ his mind urged. The corners of Liam’s mouth pulled down at the thought, his chest constricting with anger. 

‘Absolutely not,’ Theo said as he came to a stop before Liam, studying him, quietly, calmly, Liam’s suggestion of leaving the lights off clear in both their minds as that was what he was referring to. ‘We are not having a Christmas party with no lights, and I found the problem already. You can still enjoy your party. You’ve earned it,’ and his eyes were light, clear and soft with sincerity that made Liam’s stomach flutter warmly. He pushed the feeling down. 

Everyone was listening, but it was clear that he was only talking to Liam. The problem?

Liam wasn’t so sure if he even wanted to listen, his face blank and expressionless, the way he stayed silent and stared over at Theo, letting him do the talking, were proof of that. 

‘I remember you canceling your invitation,’ Liam pressed out, unable to help his voice from coming out a little bit like a growl. ‘What are you doing here?’

Theo sighed, shaking his head the corners of his lips faintly curled up, his face soft so contradictory and unlike anything Liam had seen from him, _so unlike the way he had looked the night before._ It did nothing to help Liam’s racing heart inside his chest. 

‘I did,’ Theo admitted quietly, gingerly, his face never turning less soft. ‘At first at least. But then I got thinking: I haven’t given you your gift yet.’

Liam couldn’t help but be taken by surprise by the words. Gift? He had taken the time to buy Theo a gift, of course, before they got into that argument. But he hadn’t really thought about the fact Theo might do the same. 

Theo smiled softly, holding on despite just barely getting a chance, a smile that screamed uncertainty and hope that this could be fixed to Liam, and with that, Theo pulled out a small decorated box from behind his back. ‘Here.’ Encouragingly, he nodded towards it, prompting Liam to take it. 

Liam did, sighing, raising his eyebrows at Theo with a questioning glance. ‘What is this Theo?’

‘Just open it.’ 

And Liam sighed, raising his eyebrows further, though he couldn’t deny that he was curious. Getting gifts still always had him excited, something swirling enthusiastically in his stomach. 

With Theo watching him, something strangely excited sparkling in his eyes that Liam couldn’t quite place, he pulled the ribbon loose and took off the lid with grabby fingers.

Theo smiled satisfied, and Liam looked down, but when he did he wasn’t quite sure what it was that he saw. 

Staring back up at him was a simple note, almost seeming to mock him though Liam knew deep down for sure that Theo wouldn’t mean it that way, with in the middle of it only the word _hooray_ written, each letter in a different colored crayon. 

Liam looked up, his eyebrows raised not knowing what to think of it and how to respond, holding up the box. ‘What the hell’s this?’ Was this just about the promotion again? Was this from Theo just to remind him of it again, did Theo think this was funny? The irritation flooded back to Liam, the dark shadow of annoyance casting over his face, and Theo must’ve seen it too, as he rushed to continue. 

‘No, no, let me explain!’ he called. ‘You just have to turn it over.’

Liam stared at him, hard, trying to decide whether Theo was just trying to have a laugh with him, before sighing and doing so. 

_Congratulations_ , the back of the note said. _You have the promotion, it’s yours._

And just like that, all the fight left Liam again, flowing away from him, disbelief taking over him, as tears started to prick behind his eyes. ‘ _Theo_ …’ he whispered, shaking, not yet daring to believe that what he saw was real. 

When he looked up, Theo stared at him with a small smile, that soft expression seeming to have never left him, and Liam’s heart started to beat faster. 

‘I told you yesterday evening that you didn’t get it, that you didn’t know the whole story and that I had to explain it to you,’ the other man said, softly, not an ounce of resentment at last night in his voice. ‘So I will, hope you will let me do that now.’

Liam stayed silent, so Theo continued. 

‘You were right. Last night, with the promotion, Mrs. Martin gave it to me. It really _was_ just last night, but I knew my chances, and I shouldn’t have kept it from you. You had every right to be angry.’ Theo sucked in a breath, and Liam nearly gave into the urge to reach over and take his hand, cover it with his own. ‘What you said got me thinking, and you were right, because you showed me that I am good where I am and with how my job is currently going, you broke my pattern of thinking when you said that everyone who matters is already proud anyway. I have everything in my job, everything that I want. After you left last night I realized that I don’t need anymore than what I have now, I am happy with my position the way that it is and I don’t need to climb the ladder. I already took good enough care of myself over the past couple years, and as it is, I am a little bit proud of me too. I don’t need to get any higher up here. But you do, you deserve this promotion, you’ve always worked so hard. And so I talked to Mrs. Martin this morning, before the party started, I told her I couldn’t accept the promotion, that I didn’t want it and it wouldn’t fulfill, with everything you said still fresh in the back of my mind. You deserved it instead. And so this is my present to you. Merry Christmas Liam.’

When he finished, sucking in a deep breath, there were tears in Liam’s eyes, every last word from Theo’s speech ringing in his ears, the fact that he had the promotion now after all settling over him disbelieving, in a way he couldn’t quite grasp yet. A tear spilled over, rolling down his cheek, and he sniffled, meeting Theo’s gaze. 

‘You did all of that?’ he managed, hoarsely, the box clutched so tightly in his shaking hands it crumpled up slightly. He had some idea of how he changed the ideas in Theo’s mind, but to hear it so loud and clear, spilled out to him firsthand, was something else entirely. 

Theo nodded, smiling, and by the look of it, his eyes were wet and watery too. 

Liam sucked in a breath, trembling and shakily, and he looked up, meeting Theo’s eyes. ‘Theo,’ he started, and his words were long overdue. ‘I am so, _so_ sorry about the way I talked to you last night, I should’ve never attacked you and brought your sister into this,’ the regret he felt since waking up that morning and lingered in the back of his mind finally breaking, and washing over him in big waves. A deep breath escaped him, as Theo shook his head softly. 

‘You shouldn’t have,’ he agreed quietly, though there was no resentment in his voice, and though Liam breathed in shuddering, he knew there was no point in letting it get to him. What was the point in continuing this thing they’d started when they couldn’t talk honestly about the things that hurt them? ‘But it’s okay, I forgive you, you didn’t mean what you said and I know that, I can’t stay mad at it that way, it’d be stupid to stay stuck in the past,’ and Liam breathed, nodding, feeling as though a weight had been dropped off his shoulders. 

Liam let out a shaky breath, sniffling, crying, and Theo looked over at him softly. A small smile showed on his face as he reached over and took Liam’s hands, taking him by surprise, before leaning in and pressing his lips against Liam’s softly. 

Liam’s heart skipped a beat, pleasantly surprised, but you wouldn’t hear him complaining anytime soon, and he smiled against Theo’s lips. In the background, somewhere vaguely and in a way he only just registered, he heard Lydia say to Mason: ‘But they hate each other.’ 

And Liam could hear the smile in Mason’s voice, following his best friend’s lead as he smiled against Theo’s lips again. ‘No they don’t. Not really.’

Liam smiled, chuckling, as he and Theo broke away for only a short moment, grinning at each other at this outcome. ‘You’re still getting your present later, Raeken.’

And Theo smiled back, smirking before he kissed him again, pressing his lips to Liam’s. ‘Can’t wait for that, Dunbar.’

*********

‘You know Dunbar, I think we certainly managed to pull off the greatest office holiday party ever,’ Theo smirked, before wrapping his arms around Liam’s neck and kissing him again.

‘Oh I think so too, Raeken,’ Liam grinned in response, raising his eyebrows, as they pulled back again only long enough for him to say that, before his lips were met by Theo’s softly and hungrily again. ‘And… Kudos to you for following through with the mistletoe,’ Theo’s only response being rolling his eyes and kissing Liam stupid, cutting him off and the last half of his sentence went unsaid. 

The silence returned to the copy room then, where the two coworkers slash boyfriends had snuck off to in private and were kissing and smiling against each other’s lips, with warmth swirling in their chests and enjoying the typical party sounds in the background, with only a twig of mistletoe hanging over their heads.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you liked it! :)  
> Let me know what you think, comments make my day! :)


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